Do Pressure Points Really Work in Martial Arts and on the Street?
Well it’s been some time since I put pen to paper to write an article. But for those who remember me from my past articles hello again and thanks for reading.
Do Pressure Points Really Work?
Consider this, the human body is vulnerable to attack in many ways, some demanding the application of great force, some requiring a lighter force. The effects on the human body can be amplified by striking or manipulating certain areas rather than others. The determining factor is: What kind of effect do you want to achieve?
But before I go into a little more detail I would like to point out here and now this one simple fact. The use of vital points takes some knowledge and a lot of practice, with that said, in this article I’ll cover a number of defensive tactics that can enhance the correct application of only a few vital points-that will make your technique more powerful and effective.
Now, there are many names for these striking points, pressure points, weak areas to name just a few. However, the names don’t matter, if you hit the right spot it’s going to hurt your attacker. But, if you’re a 7 stone woman a punch to a normal point on the body will have little effect on a 18 stone man attacking you. Rather you need to make maximum use of minimal force, so what are the best target areas to strike.
You see, there’s no point in learning self-defence if you are going to blindly hit just anything and end up hurting yourself in the process. So it makes sense to use the weaker vulnerable points on the body for maximum effect when forced to defend yourself in any self-defence situation.
Okay, I hear you say, so how do I find the weak points well, try pressing a point on your body and if it hurts you’ll know that if you hit that point on someone else’s body it;s going to hurt them. Put it this way, if that same 18 stone man attacked the 7 stone woman and she poked him in th eye with her finger it’s going to hurt right, that’s a simple use of a target area but you need to know where these targets are and the best strike to use on these targets as well.
The downside of all this is many of the good striking points are about the size of a fifty pence piece so not very big. Not only that, you have to hit the target whilst its moving so your accuracy has to be high. One way to help you learn where these targets are is to get a poster or something similar from a shop or make one up yourself and mark up these points on this chart pin it up some where and just reach forward and touch each point until you become familiar with their location on the body because as stated previously, if you are going to use pressure points you have to be accurate.
Now there’s little point hitting someone on the chin if his jaw is as hard as your fist. But what about the eyes, hit in the vicinity of the eyes and it will have the desired effect. Also the nose and into the throat all are sensitive places to strike, even just a little touch can cause massive pain. Another sensitive area is under the nose where it meets the top lip, lower down the body the places you can’t attack are usually covered by muscle the chest for example. The solar plexus if you strike this using a closed fist or elbow can work effectively in this area, hit the V of the rib cage. The bladder area is also a soft spot especially if your attacker has had 8 pints of beer and its full up (be very careful this is a dangerous area especially if kicked), even people with strong stomach muscles will double over.
In addition, remember all the main nerves and arteries are on the inside of the limbs. So the inside of the upper arm is more sensitive to a strike than the outside same goes for the inside of the thigh. If someone has their arms up and you hit them in the armpit it will cause extreme pain. The back of the knee is more sensitive than the outside. The shin kick again the inside is more sensitive than the outside a kick to this spot will cause a lot of pain.
Striking and pushing if you find yourself on the floor which by the way, you must try to avoid at all costs with someone on top of you push your thumb into the adams apple area and you’ll get a response generally pulling away or get off you. Either way allowing you time to escape, don’t waste your time trying to push under the jaw it probably won’t work.
If you can afford it buy a dummy for striking and mark up all the vulnerable areas. To find some sensitive areas you are not sure off try poking yourself with a pencil not the pointed end though and see if it hurts you because if it does it will hurt somebody else, this will tell you the best areas. At the back of the body there are a few points to consider when striking. Base of the skull where it joins the neck, the two kidneys two inches up and two inches out from the belt line, this is another sensitive area. Back of the legs, back of the thigh, tendon behind the ankle both very sensitive if you kick hard enough the attacker won’t be able to walk.
In conclusion, if you want these sensitive points to work you must practice and remember where they are you also will need to be accurate for them to be effective. One principle is to hit high then low it’s a good method to adopt strike the eyeballs and the lower balls together as a man cannot defend both at the same time.
I have only covered a few vulnerable points in this brief article there are many more so put up your chart put dots on where it hurts you, use your thumbs, elbows, single knuckle fist and knees to these points and you’ll be able to disable someone with little effort. Most important, practice, practice, practice to make sure you know where these points are.
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