What are these target areas all about?

[Former castleva]

collar bone-I´ve heard about it and I´ve got the impression that it is a good target area.Easy to break and makes opponent´s arm go limp if broken.
I´ve also heard that it´s useles against a bigger/stronger opponent,it is also usually covered with clothes and hard to go for (which is my own idea)
ribs-Yeah.I´ve never understood it.
It is used /taught very much.
But as far as I know,ribs are a strong area,that is why they are protecting your lungs and heart (critical organs) so why are they considered a target area? (As there are such unprotected areas as solar plexus and liver near them) I guess it could be used as atemi (a strike to -in this case- " " vulnerable area used to take body off one´s mind)
Sternum-I speak english as a second language of mine,but I have no idea what this area is,where it is located and how it works (if attacked)
spine-As far as I know,there is one weak place in it but in other words...no idea.
Atemi again?
thigh-inside of thigh is good for grabbing/pinching or (in some cases) kicking,but what about using thigh as a target when there are knees and shins?

All responses welcome.

[shaolinboxer]

Ribs - It's really your floating ribs that are a big target, the one that do not curve around the font of your body and meet in the middle. They are the lowerst set of ribs.

Sternum - Your sternum is the flat bone that sits in front of your heart and connects your upper ribs. It is a point that is connected to many other points, so damaging this area is like damaging the entire upper body.

Thigh - There are long stands of nerve that run up the inside and out side of the thigh. Hard contact with these nerves can cause you legs to become numb and useless.

Collar bone - It's big and easy to hit. You can hit it with a hammer fist from above, which is a very basic and powerful strike. There are nerve clusters inthe center of your shoulder muscles that can be injured to cause loss of the use of your arms.

[ewallace]

I know from experience that the clavicle (collarbone) ain't fun to break. It also won't render the arm useless. Painful? Yes, but not useless.

A phoenix eye to the ribs can be effective. It doesn't take much force to break a rib or two like that.

Sternum...I always think of as the solar plexis, is the spot in between your chest and your abdomen(in laymen's terms).
You mean to tell me no one every pined your arms down and hit you there over and over when you were a kid?

[Black Jack]

Ribs- I have had busted ribs and man, they don't feel good, hurts with every breath. As a target zone IMHO their are a lot of better areas to target in a serious altercation, but to answer your question, a more serious complication you can get from a good rib shot, though rare, would include a complete break in the rib with protruding ends that may tear the lungs membrane sac and puncture the lung, which would result in a collapsed lung, which by itself, without treatment could be lethal.

Sternum- By this do you mean the Diaphragm or the Solar Plexus? Both are good body shots if the more serious based target areas are unavailable or not a option to the situation, areas like the throat, eyes, groin, knees.

A hard blow to the Diaphragm may result in a mechanical respiratory paralysis, in other words, unconsciousness, or at least some dry heaves. :D

The Solar Plexus can produce more results than the the Diaphragm, unconsciouness, liver damage, gall bladder damage, rutpure of the stomach, injured pancreas, collasped lung from the percussive jarring, and even internal bleeding into the body cavities which could lead to shock.

Thigh- I like this area, the old "Irish Toothache" is a ***** to deal with, use a low-level thai kick or knee to the nerve on the outside of the thigh, a good spot to aim at is the pants seam, this shot will lead to severe muscle spasms.

Collar Bone- Some people swear by this area, a strong power shot could fracture the clavicle, this would disable the attackers arm on the same side as the fracture, as well as a TON of pain. I have heard through sports medicine that even a collasped lung could occur with a real strong shot to the collar bone, that and even gangrene if there is a pinched subclavian artery, something which MUST be fixed by surgery.

Good weapons to use on the collar bone include a axe-hand, elbow, forearm smash, hammer fist or stomp.

If you want to really learn your target zone you should research sports medicine injuries and a bit of surgicial anatomy.

[ewallace]

After thinking about it a little more, I retract my previous statement. The arm is pretty much useless. When I broke my clavicle I had landed on the back of my shoulder with about 400lbs of football players on top. The bone stuck up almost breaking skin. I was unable to get up off of the ground by myself...literally, I could not get up no matter how hard I tried. In the days that followed my shoulder turned blue-purple to almost a green color. The doctor thought at first it might be gangrene. It was just really bruised. This was from the ground impact, not a downward blow such as a hammerfist.

[Merryprankster]

You're not breaking the collar bone with a hand technique.

At least, not mine.

I can say from experience that having it dislocated hurts like hell, and certainly incapacitated me. I imagine a break would have the same effect.

[ewallace]

I did not know that you could dislocate the clavicle. It is actually a relatively easy bone to break...if done at the right angle.

[Merryprankster]

Yup. I dislocated it at where it meets the sternum. Unpleasant.

And I should amend that to say that I don't think breaking the collar bone is very likely with a hand strike.. anything is possible. :)

[ewallace]

As far as puncturing a lung, if the break occurs at a certain area (close to the middle of the chest) it very well could puncture a lung. When I had surgery to repair my clavicle they had to put in a "central line" IV. They poked right in the meaty part above the clavicle-next to the neck and I felt alot of pressure on my lung. They even made me sign a waiver because that procedure had punctured lungs before.

[ewallace]

And I should amend that to say that I don't think breaking the collar bone is very likely with a hand strike.. anything is possible.
If you are taller than your opponent you will have more luck with that target. You pretty much have to smash down on it to break it. A straight punch to the clavicle will probably hurt the hand more than the collarbone.

[Black Jack]

Merry,

A lot of people put a lot of faith in the old collar bone strike, from what I hear is that it is much harder than people think to break, well at least in a duelling format where the guy is on guard and ready.

The best bet in a handstrike breaking somebodies collar bone is by suprise, the first pre-emptive blow, even then I would suggest a bunch of other things besides going for that strike.

[Merryprankster]

Black Jack,

I kinda figured that. I'm all about high-percentage.

[Black Jack]

By high percentage you know you mean twirling spin kicks, reverse punches, one-legged stances, and a pre-planned set of perfect, by the book, hollywood moves.

Oh and don't forget the spitting, it is not a fight without spitting.:D

[ewallace]

I think he meant Qi projection.

[TaoBoy]

Some other good target areas:

Eyes - remove your opponent's ability to see
Throat - remove your opponent's ability to breathe
Knees - remove your opponent's ability to stand
Nose - remove your opponent's ability ro react

As far as breaks go, they can prove difficult to achieve. And anyway, do we need to break bones?

[Merryprankster]

I'd consider aiming more generally for the head rather than eyes, throat, nose.... not easy targets.

[TaoBoy]

True!

Strikes to the centre of mass of the head are the best options.
Doesn't require any great skill in targeting or a particular hand shape. And once you control the head you control the body.

My suggestions were specific due to the topic of conversation.

[Black Jack]

Merry,

I am able to hit the eyes with a good amount of success and I do count them as a high percentage move, a philosophy we both seem to have in common.

I can see where you may be coming from as some tools need to be more accurate than others, the eye jab could come to mind, but their is a gross motor eye strike out there called the tiger claw/face smash that is very high percentage in its application.

Basically its a non-telegraphed palm heel smash to the face with the intent of getting any number of your digits into his eyes, something which by its very nature it always does, it may be only one finger, two fingers, or any number of fingers but something will get in there, this move is a stable of WWII close combat techniques, the point is to do it with serious aggression and forward drive.

Another thought to consider in eye strikes that some seem to skip over is the great aspect of adding standup grappling skills into the mix, skills which will heighten the accuracy and damage of the eye strikes, for instance when you tiger claw, you can reach and pull him into the blow by grabbing the front part of his pants with the other hand, another example could be clinching and guiding the attackers head into the eye strikes, eye strikes which are not finishers but IMHO are setups for the beating to follow.

Just my thoughts on eye strikes as they are a stable of my self defense training, and yes, they can be practiced on the living, I use protective eye gear, goggles.

The throat can be tricky as a good fighter will keep his head down, a target zone that I think works better on your pre-emptive opening gambit, or after you have already rattled his brain.

[respectmankind]

The clavical is a good spot, but will not render the person defenseless. The nerves in the shoulder are a great place, the ones that can get damage when you reset a dislocated shoulder, it is not so hard to hurt them and it will make teh arm useless. Wrists, although hard to hit, if you get teh chance is a great choice. Nose bone on unexperience fighters is good, the radius in the for arm (teh one connectinhg to the thumb) , then ofcoarse the sternum is great. although it can kill someone easy, which coul dbe a bummer. anywho, aside from obvious ones like teh throat, eyes , ball (unexperienced fighters) that is about all teh major upper body ones. and yes i realise teh balls are not upper body. :)

[Former castleva]

Thank you very much.

[Merryprankster]

Black Jack,

I'll buy that.

Hardly disabling (usually), but certainly has distraction potential and watery eyes are just another advantage for you :)

Besides which, the palm strike doesn't suck.

[myosimka]

Please tell me you guys have decided on a course of action other than medical school.

The sternum is the flat bone in the center of the chest connected to the first 7 pairs of ribs by cartilage. It's not the solar plexus and it's not the diaphragm. If you are aware of this and simply speaking imprecisely, great but you really aren't answering the guy's question. If not, learn something new every day.

[ewallace]

Please tell me you guys have decided on a course of action other than medical school.
What are you talking about? I just got done performing a triple bypass surgery on my own hand. You have no idea what you are saying. The sternum is located in between the second and third toe on your left foot. I just had a myocardioinfarction and it itched really bad.

Yeah like I said I always think of the solar plexus when I hear sternum. Not sure why. I have learned something today.

[Black Jack]

I agree, when I think of sternum as a target zone I really am I just thinking about that main frontal area, not the bone itself, a target which I would find wastefull anyway.

But thanks for making things clear.

[Kevin73]

Sternal rubs are what they use medically to see if a person is really unconscious/unresponsive because of all the nerves that lie right on top of it. Try it for yourself, take your knuckles and rub up and down...it hurts.

Will this end the fight? No, I'm not saying that...BUT if you have some ******* that's talking smack it's a nice opening move to hit them there with a vertical fist so only the two knuckles hit. Because 1) It causes alot of pain 2) It's center area to their breathing and you can knock the wind out of them very easily. 3) It will cause some disctance between the two of you. THEN you would go into other techniques to finish it off.

It's like using the leg kick, I have hit people there and dropped them and they thought I broke their leg because they hadn't felt that type of pain before. Same theory here, it's unexpected and people aren't used to the type of pain the strike causes so it buys you extra time.

[3D Man]

The four arteries that supply the brain with oxygen rich blood are the finest targets of all. On your acupuncture dummy they are ??? ;)

Methods of attack include pressure and strikes.

Strikes will render your opponent unconscious as soon as the 2nd of four is disabled. If the arteries are seriously damaged death will result. You must strike both arteries within ten seconds of one another or seriously damage the first.

Myriad strangles will simultaneous cut the carotids. A properly applied strangle will result in unconsciousness in three seconds. Death comes in 20 to 40 seconds. Your opponent will generally stay out for three times the amount of time you hold the strangle. Hold the strangle for 10 seconds and he should stay out for 30 seconds and so on. Drugs and alcohol change the time frames.

These are the only target areas that always end an empty hand fight.

[PhoenixPangaryk]

From my personal experience, body structure is key to deploying proper tactics in a fight with targeting in mind.

Big boned men who weigh over 200 pounds or men that are short and stalky who still have a large bone structure and meat mass are hard to attack in the area of floating ribs and collar bones. They should be attacked in more vital areas like the bone structure around the eye sockets, bridge of nose, ear drums, eye balls, testicles, knee caps and throat.

Men with small bone structures can be attacked in the collar bone or floating rib and sturnum area more readily and easily. When you asses an opponent, within seconds you must determine his bone structure type and meat mass. Then decide on target deployment and stick to the plan.

If I am up against a monster (I am only 160 lbs) I focus on the vital weaknesses of his bone structure in areas that will cause most immediate damage as mentioned in first paragraph. I will also use my teeth as primary attacking weaponry if he gets a hold of me. Ah the taste of raw flesh - pretty much freaks them out and surpases most pain thresholds and they scream like babies.

Just my two nickles of wisdom from street fights I have had.:D

[Braden]

That's odd. I've found that the floating ribs are one of the vulnerable spots on even men with alot of fat and/or muscle. It's also an area that alot of people leave undefended, unlike all the other spots mentioned here. And boy does it hurt getting smacked there. Plus they're ideal targets to attack from the outside, again unlike the others.

[rogue]

The main places that have worked for me are right under the mandibal, the nose, the solar plexus and the floating ribs (most guys flare their elbows out to the side, even many "trained" fighters).

Oh yeah, after boxing for a wee bit I learned not to aim for the center of the face but the throat at least with jabs. The head can move quite a bit.

[JWTAYLOR]

I've broken both of my collar bones. One I did myself during a really hard cross country foot race. I was so tired I ducked my head and ran for the finish line, right into a tree. Broke my colar bone.

It does, indeed, pretty much debilitate the arm. I have never done it, but I have actually whitnessed a broken collar bone as the result of a hand strike. But I have seen ALLOT more not break. It seems to me that the collar bone has a bit of flexibility in it, making it resistant to breaks. Now, if I've got a club or a bat, you bet your sweet bippy I can break your collar bone and I think it's a fine target.

As far as the ribs, great targets. From experience, I can tell you broken ribs hurt like a b!tch. The previous comment about it hurting to breath is right on. It hurts to do anything. It can take the fight right out of someone.

As far as rupturing a rib throught he lungs, that usually only happens when a rib is broken in the back. Which, BTW, I have also done (motorcycle wreck), and it feels likeyour body is collapsing on itself. Hook to the front ribs with your back hand and then hook to the ribs with your front hand. Great effect.

Oh, and I would never have really considered the hip itself as a good target. But I saw (and heard) a hip bone broken in a real fight and have since considered it a difficult but valuable target. Instant effect.

JWT