Pressure Points - What They Really Are - By Bruce Everett Miller, PA-C


Pressure Points.

If you move amongst the martial art chat rooms and magazine articles you will find a lot of talk about pressure points. And true to form, there are always those who believe in them (passionately) and those who do not (just as passionately).

Both camps have their reasons why they believe as they do and both tend to flame the other.

However, if you actually look at what BOTH camps are saying, you will find that underneath all that shouting there is an element that is shared by both groups. That element is trying to find something within pressure points that works for self-defense.

That fact is the exact reason why many people study martial arts.

One of the main problems with martial arts is the fact that, by itself, studying martial arts does not give you superior strength, speed, or make you invincible. There is still the problem of dealing with an opponent who is bigger and stronger and faster that you. I will not discount the fact of your own strength or power here, and I will definitely give credit to a well-placed punch or kick, but sometimes the opponent is just too big.

Therefore, at times we all could use an advantage. An advantage which allows us to disable the opponent who is stronger, faster and just plain bigger than we are. We need that advantage when we are dealing with an opponent who could be high on drugs or mentally ill and thus does not feel pain.

The proponents of pressure points count on this advantage, but as I have said some people just don’t believe they work. Why don’t they believe? I am sure that the people who do not believe in them aren’t faking it. They don’t consciously want to keep something from the rest of us. Nor do they want to pass up on a legitimate tool that would help them. However, they (like all of us) have to be convinced that the tool is real before they would use it.

The fact is that some don’t believe pressure points work probably due to the fact pressure points have not worked for them. They have tried the explanation and the examples that have been given, but those examples simply did not work for them or the explanation made no sense to their logic flow. The real question here is, “Why?”

Now before you think this is simply going to be an article trying to convince you (or them) that pressure points do work, be aware that I hope for it to be far more than that. My hope is that this will be an article that goes to the heart of what pressure points really are AND how to use them. I think it will help everyone understand and use pressure points better. Therefore, in this article I will be trying to tell you about the types of pressure points and in the next article I will actually give you even more data on the types and examples of each type.

But back to why some people don’t think pressure points work. I personally believe the real reason that pressure points are not convincing to many people is that pressure points have not been defined and explained correctly. I agree with most people who claim that simply knowing pressure points is worthless. (Yes, you heard that from me correctly.)

Too many people think of the movie version when they think of pressure points. In the movies, every pressure point works - every time, and with staggering effects. Every pressure point is easy to get to and automatically disables the evil opponent with a simple touch of a finger at that magical point that only the hero knows. This, of course, would be our ideal pressure point. Unfortunately, as far as I know, they DO NOT EXIST.

If you want a simile, then it is sort of like looking at a bank of switches. Simply flipping switches may not get you anything. Or perhaps it may turn on light in another room or part of the building. Cute, but what good does that do you at the location you are right now. Not really helpful. Furthermore, it wastes time. And in a fight, that wasted time could be dangerous or worse.

Other (and maybe better) examples of why someone might believe that pressure points don’t work is that they have been given examples of these points, but without explanation of how to use them correctly, or they were told they would always work. For example, if you didn’t know that muscle pressure points are useless if the muscle is tightly contracted, then you would think the entire theory was wrong or worthless. However, if you understood the complete theory, then you would realize the muscle was not going to respond and simply use a different level of pressure point. [Please re-read the last sentence several times because this is very important.]

Think of it as if all you had were punches that were to be delivered against areas of the body that were prepared for it and you tried to convince someone that a punch was a good weapon. Based on their observations or even their own experiences, they may not believe a punch worked at all. In fact, they might be adamant that spending their effort learning to punch was a waste of time.

The same is exactly the case for pressure points. You use the type of pressure point that is the best for the circumstance. This of course requires a far deeper understanding of pressure points than the simplistic level 1 pain pressure points, which is why some people believe that pressure points don’t work

So again, I think the real problem here is one of not understanding the function of pressure points. This is very different from understanding where a pressure point is located. (Everyone knows an example of where a pressure point is located.)

I have gone back to the chat rooms and articles on pressure points that I have read (or written) and there is one question that should be asked, but it never seems to GET asked. Therefore the answer is never defined.

That question is, “What exactly ARE pressure points?”

continued on next page....

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