You may have heard of pressure points, nerve points or vital points. The theory of these points is typically associated with meridians and energy lines in the Eastern cultures to nerve clusters in Western cultures. Whichever names you have heard have been part of martial arts for at least the last century and most likely even longer. Vital points are discussed in the Bubishi [Ref. 1], a classic Chinese work handed down from master to student in Okinawa for generations describing the philosophy, strategy, medicine, and techniques used to master the art of karate-do.
These points in the body can cause various reactions when force is applied: pain, numbness or weakness in a muscle, fixed reaction, paralysis, and even death.
In Vital Point Strikes by Sang H. Kim [Ref. 2], a vital point is described as “a pressure sensitive point on or near the surface of the human body. Vital points function like gateways to the nervous system, the main controller of the body, allowing you to use pain to influence the actions and reactions of an opponent. Even a single strike can cause serious damage, unconsciousness or, in rare cases, death.”
The Dim Mak or touch of death technique in martial arts is a vital point strike technique. Some have speculated the Dim Mak technique was the reason for Bruce Lee’s death.
In our Club, we do discuss and from time to time practice against nerve points. However, we do not focus on them or practice them as an effective technique for self-defense.
The problem with nerve points as a means for self-defense is you must be extremely precise and to be precise you must practice these techniques a lot. In addition, not everyone has the same pain threshold or reaction to nerve points. Some people have zero reaction to certain nerve points while others are very sensitive. Some people have higher thresholds of pain and therefore do not react the same to nerve points as others. And if people are on drugs, they may have no reaction at all to force applied against these nerve points. And those nerve points that are really dangerous and could cause death, from a practicality standpoint we don’t believe we cannot really practice them safely.
So, if you are trying to end an altercation quickly, you can not rely that a nerve point will be accomplish this goal.
So, if this is the case, why do we even bother discussing practicing nerve points? For one, self-defense is more effective when you go after vulnerable parts of the body. Therefore, I believe an understanding of anatomy, the human body and its vulnerable points (and nerve points can be vulnerable) is fundamental to a self-defense based martial art like Han Moo Kwan. When we do practice nerve points, you will hear me say, I think of them as icing on the cake – if I strike a vulnerable point that is also a nerve point and the person has more of a reaction because it causes more pain or numbness in the muscles, etc. then it is just a bonus.
Regards,
Kelly
References:
1. The Bible of Karate: Bubishi, by Patrick
McCarthy (Translator)\
2. by Patrick McCarthy
Vital Point Strikes by Sang H. Kim
“It is not possible to become a great martial artist without an education. The serious Karateka should study anatomy and physiology, grappling, swordsmanship, archery and strategic tactics, etc. Cross training and study must balance your training in order to understand the way.” ~ Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957), founder of Shotokan Karate
No comments:
Post a Comment