Woodcut illustration showing the path of dumai (Governor Vessel) from Jingmai tu kao (Illustrated Study of the Channels), published in 1878 (4th year of the Guangxu period of the Qing dynasty).
Dumai is one of the Eight Extraordinary Channels (qi jing ba mai). It starts within the lower abdomen and descends to the perineum. It travels up the spinal column as far as the fengfu (Palace of Wind) point, where it enters the head, ascending as far as the crown, and then follows the midline of the forehead to the bottom of the septum. Pathological changes in this channel are often thought to lead to rigidity of the spinal column (jizhu qiangzhi, tetanus), arching of the back (jiaogong fanzhang, opsithotonos); headache and stiff neck (toutong jingqiang, meningitis), dizziness (xuanyun), urinary incontinence, infertility in women, etc.