Knowing about the use of pressure points for fighting can be a valuable and highly effective aid to martial arts and self defence. On this page you will find information on some of the major pressure points and how you can use this knowledge in self defense with the top pressure point fighting techniques, as well as my pick of youtube videos and links to other useful online resources for you to learn more.

 Actually there is no single answer to the question of what pressure points are, other than to say that a pressure point is an area of the body which is more sensitive to pressure than other places. Pressure points are various sizes,  can be struck or pressed, and cause various effects including pain, loss of motor control or disruption of other physical and neurological processes, unconsciousness, and in some cases death.

Although there isn't a more specific definition of pressure points in general, there are various types of pressure points that can be identified:

• Areas where major nerves run close to the skin or are relatively unprotected.
• Areas which disrupt the mechanics of major systems of the body - such as the respiratory system or the circulatory system (the jugular notch, described below, is an example of this)
• Areas which disturb neurological activity in the brain, such as the temple.
• Areas which transmit the force of a strike directly to an internal organ, such as the kidneys or even the heart, with maximum efficiency.
• Weak areas of the body which are easily injured, such as the eyes or the genitals.
• Accupressure points which disrupt the flow of chi - not found in all systems of pressure point fighting, only traditional oriental arts such as kung fu or karate, these are based on the principles of traditional Chinese mediciine and work in the same way as accupuncture.

 The juggular notch is probably the easiest pressure point to manipulate for martial arts, and it is also one of the most effective. It is the easiest because you don't even need to strike it - a foreful push with your fingers is enough - and accurate striking is the hardest part of this kind of self defense. And it is one of the most effective because it causes a momentary stunning of your opponent, which lasts around 2-4 second usually and which feels very similar to being winded.

To find your jugular notch run your hand along your collar bone towards the center until you find the point at which it dips down and back up in a V shape. The soft area of flesh just above the bone of this V is the jugular notch.

As well as stunning this can be used to push an attacker away from you - it is very hard to resist this. Just hold your hand flat with your fingers pressed together, place your middle finger in the notch and then push as hard as you can.

The section of the medial nerve that am refering to can be found running down the inside of the arm in the small gap between the bicep and tricep. Striking this nerve is very painful indeed and will give your attacker a 'dead arm' meaning that it will be stiff and difficult to move, reducing its strength, range of movement and fine motor control.

The most common way to use the medial nerve is as a defense / counter attack to punches. You can strike this area with the back of the fist, aiming to make contact usin your knuckles, as a block to a punch, or you can block and then strike. Either way they will have trouble trying to punch you again!

 This is, of course, the one that everyone knows. The temple is the small area of soft flesh located to the side of the forehead. Even a moderately hard strike to this area, using focused force, will knock your opponent unconscious.

Focussed force basically means that you strike with a smaller surface area, thus focussing all the power of the strike onto a single spot. One of the best ways to strike to the temple is using the 'phoenix eye fist', which is an ordinary fist but with the middle finger raised a little out from the rest. You can push your thumb underneath the bottom of the middle finger to stabalize it.

 The larynx, or voice box as it is more commonly known, is a very effective 'control point'. This simply means that it can be used effectively to control someone who is a threat to you or those around you. Although this can be used against anyone with equal effectiveness, it is much easier to use the larynx as a control point against a man, purely because the 'adams apple' makes the larynx of a man more prominent and easy to grab than for a women. The technique used is increadibly simple - it is just a two finger pinch with the thumb and forefinger. You can learn the correct position by practicing gently on yourself now. Slide your thumb and forefinger either side of your laryx in the centre of your neck, and then puch in with the tips. You should be able to feel the tips of your finger and thumb pushing slightly behind the larnyx and pulling it out a bit. This doesn't cause a great deal of pain, but it does usually cause a great deal of distress as it makes you feel very vulnerable indeed, and when someone does this you really get the feeling that they could cause serious damage very easily, which is in fact the case, so be careful. If applying this in a real situation to subdue / control a person and force them to desist what they are doing and follow your commands the only thing you need to be aware of is that they can get out of this pinch quite easily (although sometimes painfully) jerking themselves backwards, so it should only be applied when you either have someone against a wall, making it impossible for them to move backwards, or when you have a firm hold on them with the other hand, in which case you may still have to be ready to step forwards quickly to follow them if they try to back out of it.

This is a less obvious target, but nontheless very effective. Striking the ears is not only very painful, but can also serve to disorient your opponent, as the inner ear is plays apart in how we balance ourselves. The most common tk woud be to hold your hands in a cupped positon and then slap to the ear aiming to hit ove the ear, or with the ridge on the side of the hand. This can perforate the ear drums, and can stun or disorient your opponent.

 Pressure point fighting originated in the far east, and is most closely associated with Chinese kung fu. And of course the pinnacle of kung fu knowledge and skill resides in the Shaolin monastery, where many of todays kung fu styles were original conceived or at least drew much of their inspiration. The Shaolin monks are world famous for their martial arts skill, and are particularly known for esoteric practices such as 'Dim Mak', the source of a great deal of what we know today about pressure pointing.

The Shaolin Online Library publishes authentic texts that have been kept for centuries in the Temple's library and online released relatively recently. They are published as ebooks, and include Jin Jing Zhong. Authentic Shaolin Heritage: Dian Xue Shu (Dim Mak) - Skill of Acting on Acupoints, which is the definitive text for authentic Dim Mak training and techniques.