| You hear a lot of hype about "pressure points" | | | | We spend our entire lives subconsciously |
| and various super-secret martial arts that exploit | | | | protecting ourselves from attacks to these areas. |
| these mysterious areas on the opponent's body | | | | In fact, the first thing anyone does when faced |
| to achieve a quick, humiliating victory. On the | | | | with an aggressive attacker is to go into a |
| other hand, some folks will tell you that a | | | | defensive posture -- arms in a guard position, |
| knowledge of pressure points and/or how to | | | | shoulders hunched, groin protected, etc. -- which |
| attack them is useless for self-defense (or for | | | | renders these areas virtually unhittable. |
| anything else, really) Does either side of this | | | | Are pressure point attacks worthwhile for |
| argument hold the truth, or does it lie somewhere | | | | self-defense? |
| in the middle? | | | | Other than Mr. Spock from the old Star Trek |
| What is a pressure point? | | | | television series -- who was able to disable the |
| The real term for pressure point is plexus. You've | | | | bad guys with his patented Vulcan nerve pinch -- |
| probably heard of the most famous of these | | | | very few (if any) people have ever used a |
| areas, the solar plexus. It's a collection of nerves | | | | pressure point attack for anything worthwhile. |
| and blood vessles that happens to be near the | | | | It's just not a viable option for self-defense. It is |
| surface of the body, just below the point where | | | | hard enough to get a punch to land on someone's |
| the ribs come together. | | | | face, so when a martial arts "master" claims that |
| If you strike this area, your opponent will | | | | he can disable a raging madman with a |
| experience pain and momentary shock-like | | | | deftly-applied pressure point attack, you'd better |
| symptoms. Hit it hard enough, and you can cause | | | | take it with a grain of salt. |
| a body-blow knockout or even some internal | | | | After all, why fool around with stuff like that |
| bleeding. | | | | when you can do something that's guaranteed to |
| Other areas similar to the solar plexusr areas | | | | work? There is no secret that eye pokes, groin |
| exist in the body. They all share the common | | | | shots, neck/throat strikes, boxing the ears, and |
| characteristic that several nerve groups come | | | | the like are all highly effective for self-defense. |
| together at a point near the body surface. | | | | Use what works and leave the mystical |
| Think about this for a moment. There is nothing | | | | mumbo-jumbo to Hollywood. |
| mystical or secret about these areas of the body. | | | | |