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Is there a way, for people who have comparatively little strength to incapacitate an opponent efficiently through striking certain pressure points in combat?

Stuff like eye gouges, palm strikes to the nose, etc would work, but are there other choices / targets that will end a fight efficiently in a time of crisis? What I'm asking is basically the effective techniques that requires the least strength to execute (in a no-rules situation).

  • Relevant, since it shows the very limited number of options and their limited viability: https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/7752/how-do-you-knock-someone-out-using-pressure-points – Philip Klöcking Mar 13 '22 at 12:23
  • Should we consider this a duplicate of the question Philip linked? – Huw Evans Mar 13 '22 at 13:43
  • https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/9280/is-pressure-point-striking-a-useful-skill-to-know-in-a-street-fight/9283#9283 is similar too. – Huw Evans Mar 13 '22 at 13:51
  • https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/13117/how-hard-should-your-knife-hand-strike-be-without-killing-anyone/13125#13125 – Huw Evans Mar 13 '22 at 13:54
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    Yeah any number of those links are already covering the answer. To the OP, I would just say you're asking the right questions. Anyone who's serious about learning to defend him/herself should want to know what the most effective techniques are. Why waste time on stuff that doesn't work as well? So it naturally leads people to look at pressure point stuff or even mystical things. They're looking for a big advantage over their opponents. But as we see in those links, pressure points aren't reliable and are actually difficult to make work, so the usual stuff in MA is best to learn first. – Steve Weigand Mar 13 '22 at 15:38
  • I would add that the meuchi is pretty good if there really are no rules. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf2dfYaulek – Huw Evans Mar 13 '22 at 17:54
  • To the OP - Do any of the linked questions sufficiently cover what you are asking? The second link especially seems to cover what you are looking for. If neither of them seem to fit, please edit to elaborate what makes your question distinct from those. – JohnP Mar 15 '22 at 17:14
  • @ Steve Weigand | What I originally meant by "pressure points" is vital areas vulnerable to injuries discovered via anatomy, not the acupuncure type :) Just to make this clear –  Mar 16 '22 at 03:10
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    @HuwEvans While in general, I agree, eye pokes and groin kicks actually tend to fare pretty poorly when pressure tested because we, as humans, have developed a lot of instinctual behavior to protect our vital areas. They're reasonable if you can catch someone flatfooted, but once they know they're in a fight, it's hard to catch someone solidly. – Macaco Branco Mar 16 '22 at 12:27
  • :-P And this is the second time I've linked this guy's videos shortly after having run into him by proxy from another guy whose videos I trust, so I should probably cool off since I have a bit of a tendency to adopt new truths (or new sources) a little too strongly. That said, it matches up with memories of testing this in classes while wearing cups. It doesn't take much of a hip turn to blunt the force of a groin kick or much of a head dip to make an eye poke much less effective. – Macaco Branco Mar 16 '22 at 12:32
  • @MacacoBranco this is not an eye poke but a special kind of flicking movement. A poke has far more limitations. – Huw Evans Mar 17 '22 at 14:09
  • In fact maybe I should write up an answer involving this, as most martial artists let alone most lay people have no idea what a meiuchi is. – Huw Evans Mar 17 '22 at 14:21
  • @HuwEvans: It might be a matter of different romanization, but so far, your mentions of it such as at https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/questions/6071/effectiveness-of-shorinji-kempo-and-acupuncture-pressure-point-attacks are one of the few places I can find a reference to it, so that might be useful. :-D – Macaco Branco Mar 17 '22 at 16:08

1 Answers1

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There is a technique for someone with little strength to incapacitate an opponent at least long enough to start running. This technique is called meiuchi or me uchi in Japanese as seen at the start of this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXHypJZNetI

You may want to watch the full speed strikes in slow motion to really understand what is happening.

This is a strike to the eyes, but it is not an eye gouge. Instead you slap the eye lids with the back of the fingers at high speed.

The technique is similar to a basic punch, the same movements of any good punching technique will be required. So you start from the feat push through the hips move the shoulders and then throw the hand forward.

However rather than striking though the target you must pull back your arm just as you connect with the target and allow the fingers to continue forward in a whipping action.

When practising with a heavy bag or a hand held pad you don't aim to move the bag or pad with this techinque. Rather you know you have it correct if you make a loud clapping noise with each strike.

This is a non-lethal self defence technique. It is extremely painful, but unlikely to do any serious damage. It creates an opening to escape or set up a grapple. It almost certainly will not do more than this. It won't for example knock someone out.

Huw Evans
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  • If both sides are high on adrenaline, is it likely to incapacitate an opponent through pain compliance only? (Purely curious) –  Mar 22 '22 at 22:46
  • The eyes will still stream and they won't be able to see. Adrenaline doesn't change that. – Huw Evans Mar 23 '22 at 10:55