Kyusho – The Art of Striking Pressure Points
This area of Martial Science is Controversial at best and outright trashed, (as never being able to work in ‘real’ combat), at worst.
So what is Kyusho.
A LOOK IN SIMONS MIND
What is Kyusho?
First we must ask the seemingly simple question – what is Kyusho?
Kyusho is the art of striking, rubbing or squeezing anatomically vulnerable places on the human body.
It is that simple.
This is not 100% accurate because seizing – torite, and rubbing – acupressure, also Chi Na and Dim Mak are used in this group of “pressure point’ arts.
These anatomically vulnerable points are used ALL the time in combat sports. You don’t slap someone on the gluteus maximus is you want to knock some one out! You punch them in the head, and some places on the head and face are better to hit than others.
But the art itself has roots and science that go much deeper…much much deeper.
The WOOWOO
Before we go any deeper into the history or science of Kyusho we need to attend to some misconceptions and fantasy on both sides of this aspect of the martial arts.
The name that pops up as soon as you use the term pressure points in the west is George Dillmans.
Fairly or unfairly his is the name most associated with with Kyusho – pressure point striking. Mostly because of the public relations disaster that is the ‘no touch knock out’.
All pressure point science has been tainted by the touch (haha) of some of the early pressure point touring instructors.
Knocking out two people at once or no touch knock outs did the world of Kyusho a great disservice. It was dismissed as not viable in a self-defense or sport context.
So Kyusho is just dismissed. From a place of almost complete ignorance many years of great science and research is ignored.
BUT…if you can keep and open mind to some of the science and not the woo, the story gets more interesting.
As proof of concept, I believe the early pioneers were a step in the right direction.
Add over 30 years of modern research and a depth of understanding with the anatomical structure of the human body, Kyusho has become more science based.
Kyusho should be dragged out of the woowoo space and bought into the light of understanding and put under scientific scrutiny before we decide if has any validity.
So this is my take on Kyusho in September 2022.
A Little Bit of Science
Science gives us some understanding into how and why some of these Kyusho techniques can work.
For loss of consciousness there are two main areas. There are many subsets of these areas but these two will be our focus in this part of the article.
- Blunt force trauma
- Syncope
There is a third and well known example of loss of consciousness – restriction of blood flow to the brain through pressure on blood vessels that feed the brain.
If blood supply is cut off to any area of the body for an extended period of time, cells with die from lack of nutrition.
Blood restriction is a very important area of study, and the methods to attain it are many and varied, but it is just what it sounds like. Pressure around the neck/throat area that squeezes the arteries and veins can cause blood flow restriction to the brain causing unconsciousness.
I believe there is a bit more to this and we will explore it later in the blog.
Blunt Force Trauma
This one is pretty obvious but needs a bit of context.
Coup contrecoup – this is a the term for your brain bouncing around in your skull. This action can cause contusions on both sides of the brain as it bounces back and forth.
Your brain floats in cerebral fluid. The fast acceleration and deceleration can cause it to bump into the bones of the skull causing an over stimulation of neuro transmitters and thus shuts the brain down.
Severe whiplash or a heavy strike to the head can cause this.
The twisting of the brain stem affecting the Reticular Formation is cited as a cause of KO as well. The fast spin of the head when struck on the jaw has been known to cause ‘the wobbles’ (not able to stand/walk properly). Less is known about this version of KO.
Another pathway for loss of consciousness through impact, is a reflex area in your brain called the Sinus. The Dural Venous Sinus regulates blood and oxygen flow to the brain. A fast strike to the head can cause a shock to the Sinus causing unconsciousness.
THAT WAS THE EASY ONE…
Syncope
Syncope is defined as ‘a transient loss of consciousness and postural tone’. Vasovagal Syncope is defined here by the Mayo Clinic.
This area is HUGE.
The idea of shutting down brain and body because of various nerve interactions is a fairly new area of study and the reference material is, as yet, scarce.
That being said, it is important and a complete ignorance of it does not really help us get to the truth.
Vasovagal syncope is where an action has caused a reaction in the system of nerves throughout the body. This action can cause a severe drop in blood pressure and a relaxation of the arteries. The brain sees these fluctuations and problematic and shuts down – fainting – vasovagal syncope.
These can be caused by all sorts of things. Seeing blood, fright, dehydration, pain, hunger, use of drugs or alcohol and strangely enough, urination and deification can also be a cause. Also something that is pertinent to our discussion, coughing, turning your neck or wearing a tight collar (carotid sinus hypersensitivity).
OR striking and squeezing.
Here is where anatomy and physiology counts.
Arteries and veins
Arteries take blood from heart and lungs to feed the body. Arteries are tubes of striated muscle that pulse with a wave motion helps blood pass through them.
Veins take deoxygenated blood back to the heart and lungs to refill the blood with oxygen. Veins have valves that close to stop blood ‘back filling’. Veins have a lower pressure and speed after the blood has passed through the capillaries.
This back filling is the main causes of varicose veins.
Nerves
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) keeps the body running – food digesting, heart beating, lungs liver kidneys etc are controlled through this system. This system is broken into two main parts.
“The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is one of the two functionally distinct and continuously active divisions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). It is in opposition to the other, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The parasympathetic nervous system predominates in quiet “rest and digest” conditions while the sympathetic nervous system drives the “fight or flight” response in stressful situations. The main purpose of the PNS is to conserve energy to be used later and to regulate bodily functions like digestion and urination.”. Appropriated from here on the website of the National Library of Medicine.
For brevity, because this is a blog not a dissertation, just a quick word about the Vagus Nerve.
The Vagus Nerve is the 10th Cranial nerve (CV). It wanders all over the head and torso…
“The vagus nerve represents the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system, which oversees a vast array of crucial bodily functions including control of mood, immune response, digestion and heart rate.” – “The most important function of the vagus nerve is afferent, bringing information of the inner organs, such as gut, liver, heart, and lungs to the brain. This suggests that the inner organs are major sources of sensory information to the brain.” (reference).
UH Yeah so what does any of that mean…???
Science motherf#*&%$…sorry brain stew.
So now I have given you a SHORT look at SOME of the science that could potentially mediate a deep physiological response to a KYUSHO strike.
People in any combat sport already use what we call pressure points – Kyusho points. Yes thats right!! And I will give you 2 easy quick examples.
Example; 1
We all know an overhand right that is dropping at an angle down to around the lip line to jaw area can cause a devastating KO. There are a few issues in this area that I would be interested in.
- The hypoglossal nerve
- The mental nerve
- In Kyusho we call it Stomach 5
Example; 2
A rear naked choke puts pressure on both sides of the neck over the top of both carotid arteries. There is (obviously) important anatomy in and around neck and throat. But rather than just squeezing arteries closed I believe we are also affecting the carotid sinus. These structures contain baroreceptors which read and report on blood pressure to the brain.
Carotid Sinus “It is a sensitive site of the body because stimulation can drive large-scale reflex effects throughout the body. This can be used therapeutically in treatment of resistant hypertension[4] by baroreflex activation. Physical assault at this point, producing massive baroreflex activation can cause dramatic falls in blood pressure and cerebral ischemia.”.
Placing extreme pressure on the Carotid sinus will – send signals back to the brain that will cause a slowing in heart rate – a relaxation in the arteries causing severe drop in blood pressure – plus the physical pressure of restricting blood flow. All these things combined make these techniques damn effective.
Have you ever asked yourself why a good Gi choke will knock you out in just a few seconds, while when chopping off someone’s head they can blink at you for up to 20 seconds (according to some reports of the guillotine in France). ???!!!
In Kyusho call this area Stomach 9
These studies can go on and on – a liver shot that shocks the organ and send signals via vagus nerve back to the brain – striking nerve plexus in face, base of scull, neck, chest or around back bone… all have well known effects but we haven’t time or space to explore each in turn.
Suffice to say there is a lot more to the story – This is Martial Science.
Not the only part of martial science but, it is an important part.
There are a few of the modern martial arts schools that believe that these actions in nerve function are where all Kyusho comes from.
While this may give us a modern look at the western scientific method, I am not sure that the ‘nerve story’ tells the whole story.
This is where we drift out of the WESTERN scientific method and go into a different area, an area that more of the world uses than doesn’t, TCM Traditional Chinese Medicine or Ayurvedic Medicine.
One of the simple things that comes up with TCM is that not many westerners understand it.
This is fine in the martial arts because you don’t necessarily have to know the full science to do some damage.
BUT, can we make the damage better if we understand more – western and eastern – science?
I believe the answer is YES
TCM, Acupuncture and the WOO
The traditional medical science from the east is old.
By the time Loutzu came to prominence and wrote books in China around 1500 years ago, it was already systematized.
Ayuevedic medicine dates back to a portion of the Vedas called the Atharvaveda which is dated to 2000 BCE.
Has it moved forward with the addition of the western scientific method? Yes, but everything has moved forward in the last 200 years.
All I can really say is this – TCM and other traditional medical arts have worked for thousands of years.
They may not use the terminology of the western scientific model but we are finding that many techniques and methods of TCM are starting to be understood using the western scientific model.
With further research I truly believe we will gain deeper insights into how and why these ancient systems work.
For any interested in a deeper dive into new breakthroughs in the understanding of this here are a few examples here here and here.
What the hell is this nebulous idea Chi? Dunno!! There are a few interesting theories but I am not going to dwell on these. I just don’t know.
So there is a basis for ‘pressure points’ to work in combat?
Now the REAL questions start.
How do I access these points?
In a sport setting I have a hard enough time hitting the opponent in the head, how do i target a spot the size of a coin on their head or body?
In real life and death combat things are messy, limbs are flying around, panic is setting in, how do I ‘think’ of hitting exact locations when even hitting anything is problematic?
What does this mean to me when I am grappling?
In future articles I will try and answer each of these questions.
We can point out places for efficiency of striking effect, and blather science out our ass, but none of it makes any difference if we can not use the science in combat.
Position before submission is a huge key.
Problems in Kyusho
To be able to hit ‘pressure points’ we have to be able to hit the opponent. Street or ring these issues are challenging.
Many of the modern Kyusho schools seem to miss this point.
To me the FIRST thing you need to do is learn to make contact with the human body. Kicks punches and grapple techniques must be learned before any of this science can be overlayed.
Practicing on an unmoving opponent may lay down proof of concept, but not much else.
The problem of memory
The next problem is how do I remember this stuff. Sympathetic, parasympathetic, blood flow – arteries and veins, nerve plexuses, bones, fascia and connective tissue, myotomes, dermatomes etc etc.
The framework that is TCM gives us a great way to study this science. TCM gives a great, easy to learn framework to overlay on the body to see where these points are located.
The meridian system of Traditional Chinese Medicine already overlays these systems.
There are ancient books that say hit here and here to stop the heart, sometimes they are using pathways known to modern science. Interrupting the parasympathetic nervous system sending signal to the brain that says something is wrong, then striking a big nerve bundle, or nerve set that sends signals to the heart valves…bingo.
But the ancient books don’t say that – they didn’t know our modern terminology. They give a set of coordinates set on a map, and that map is the meridian system of TCM.
These were battlefield tested arts that used this science.
Important point to add.
Not all ‘pressure point science’ and TCM can be explained by the western scientific model.
Studying acupuncture and reverse engineering it is the easiest and most efficient way to get it into your head.
AAAAND not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but…YOU MUST BE ABLE TO MAKE CONTACT AND STRIKE ANOTHER MOVING HUMAN BEING or slow down and control their movement for easier access.
The methods of making contact and hitting someone are many and varied, but ALL martial arts can use this science. All martial arts can up their ‘players in the game’ and elevate their danger.
Conclusion
There are anatomically vulnerable places on the human body – this is beyond doubt.
This point is comprehensively backed up by the western scientific method and traditional Chinese medicine.
We use anatomical weak spots in combat sport and self defense all the time but are unaware of the specific details of nerve structure or pressure point location.
Many arts from Asia were built around these ideas.
The real issue is how do we hit these points on the human body?
Here there are larger issues at play. Do I target an inch round spot on a moving target with my knuckles. No. It would work if you could hit them, but really, it isn’t very practical.
The idea of holding someone while we hit them is doable, and this is the recommended model for the koryu (old school) arts of Japan. Holding a hand at your waist is not chambering a punch, it is seizing, twisting and rotating a limb to clear a pathway for the other hand to strike down.
The idea of hitting or batting an arm out of the way to free up access to their head or body is also a great was to exploit these methodologies. In fact this last one we have been seeing more and more in combat sport, with some great results.
Using an open hand or a length of forearm to give you a larger striking area is an issue no longer taught in many martial arts schools, but it is invaluable when it comes to Kyusho.
These techniques used to be taught in the marital arts but are not practiced much in the modern arts.
There is so much more to martial science – ways to control balance using fascia – pressure on golgi tendon organs for submissions – body alarm reaction, the perceptual narrowing humans experience in adrenal response – short range power and targeting.
This is all apart from the movement science we rely on these days.
I had already been in the martial arts for close to 15 years before I discovered an instructor who could teach this stuff.
When martial science first really exploded on the martial arts scene I thought this is revolutionary, everybody will want to know this stuff!!! But that was the mid 1990s and what revolutionized martial arts was BJJ and MMA and we went back to being brutal…but better.
But WE can be better still.
I am looking forward to the day when one of the big names in combat sport ‘discovers real hard martial science’ and changes the art forever.
I believe that time will come but as coach Barry Robinson says – “it will take many years before we can get sport analysis into MMA”.
So it maybe a long way away, but the great ideas are often ridiculed and laughed at before they get accepted.
thanx for reading
Simon
ps. We are affiliated with the DSI Dragon Society International, the worlds premier martial science group. They teach Police and Military that are stationed all round the world. People can poo poo the science all they want but when Grandmaster Moneymaker lays his hands on you…woah. Don’t trust youtube trust the science.
