Are you supposed to grab the nerve here?

Question

There was a particular frontal grabbing technique that I practiced a few times. When instructor taught it to me, he said to grab the "nerve." This nerve is a place between the thumb and index finger, right next to the little "web" of skin. I don't exactly remember the purpose, but I think it has something to do with controlling the opponent's hand. I've noticed more recently that I am the only person in the whole place at my level that actually does it as described. Is this part of the technique actually optional or are you actually supposed to do it that way? Because it wasn't presented as optional, and everyone was there that day, and yet I'm still the only person who does it that way.

Answer 1

First off, "pressure points" used in martial arts are both nerve points and acupuncture points at the same time. But nerve points and acupuncture points are two completely different things. Acupuncture points have nothing to do with nerves and vice-versa. At least according to traditional martial arts (TMA) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

A nerve point is a location where there are nerves with pain receptors that are easily accessed by touch. So when you're pressing on them, it causes pain. Some people respond to the pain more than others. Some don't respond at all. So a concept in TMA is that while you can sometimes win the lottery and have those pressure points work really well on someone, your technique should not rely on it at all. It should work even if someone is completely immune to the pain. In other words, it should work using just simple mechanics first and foremost, and the use of pain is just an added bonus that could make it work better.

Acupuncture points, however, don't involve pain. They don't have to do with the nervous system at all. Instead, they're based on the flow of Qi (ch'i, ki) energy. This Qi energy is a concept that traditional martial arts borrow from traditional Chinese medicine. Because it has been shown to be scientifically invalid, I don't place any merit on claims involving acupuncture points and Qi energy. But if you look at TCM and how it models it, it shows meridians, which are lines of Qi flow in the body. Acupuncture points are points along the meridian lines which can affect the meridians they belong to. And since each meridian is designated one of the 5 elements and yin/yang, TMA can use the 5 element theory and other theories from TCM to cause damage to a person.

So if TCM was a valid model of the way the body works, attacking these pressure points might weaken the body and especially the wrist. That would allow you to control that wrist more easily with a wrist lock of some sort similar to Aikido's "kote gaeshi".

But I consider TCM theory itself to be invalid, and Qi is not real. I place no value in it myself, after having explored it exhaustively in my younger years.

With the qi/ki stuff out of the way, that leaves just "pain compliance" points and techniques to consider. The inside of the web of the hand between the thumb and index finger contains nerve endings that will cause pain when poked at. That pain can cause a person to relax his hand and open it up. In cases where they're trying to make a fist, that can be useful. That's because making a strong fist is a pretty easy thing for people to do to stop wrist locks from happening to them. So it might cause them to open up that hand, making it easier for you to apply a wrist lock.

But again, the technique has to work whether or not the person experiences any pain. You should not intentionally "target" the pressure point. Instead, you need to drill the movement in such a way that you're making use of that point mechanically, and if it happens to cause pain, you get it as a bonus.

The question then is, is this grabbing motion you're doing mechanically optimal for the technique (presumably a wrist lock) you're attempting to apply? If not, then you've sacrificed something mechanically - usually leverage - so that you can also apply force on that pressure point. In doing so, you're taking a big risk. You're hoping the loss of mechanical advantage (leverage) would be made up for by the benefits that using the pressure point might give. In general, I find that proposition flawed and foolish, because you can not rely on pressure points at all, even if you're a pressure point master. That's because they are not reliable, and "pain compliance" techniques are not reliable either.

Every cop knows that pain doesn't often work on someone who's struggling. Once their adrenaline is surging, it temporarily causes people to be able to ignore pain. The same is true for someone high on drugs or alcohol. So pain compliance techniques must work mechanically just the same, in case the guy doesn't feel pain at all.

In class, everyone will react to pain differently, but most will have some reaction to it. Most will go along with it, relaxing their hand and wrist to avoid the pain. It's easy to see this in a class and think this is exactly how it would work in real life. But it's just not true. In a real life scenario where there's a lot of panic and adrenaline is surging, people are often able to ignore pain.

So that's a question for your instructor: Do you sacrifice mechanical advantage by going after that pressure point? Only your instructor can tell you that. And you would benefit from asking the same question of other instructors from all different martial arts to see what they say. Because, this is a subject that a lot of martial arts instructors don't really explore very well. They're taught it by their instructors and just don't ask. So they'll just say it's the way it should be done. They can't often explain its strengths and weaknesses.

As for why you're the only one in your class following your instructor's directions on how to do that technique, again, another good question for your instructor. Usually it's because they weren't taught it. Or if they were, it's difficult for them to target the pressure point with the technique, because that's a fine motor skill requiring very precise targeting. It's not something beginners might do very easily, so they just might ignore that part of it for now.

Another observation I would make is that if 99% of the class is ignoring the pressure point aspect of a technique, it's good feedback. It tells you they don't think they can use it very easily. They may have learned it, but they decided the technique they need to use must be different in order to make it work for them. When they have to use the pressure point along with it, it just might not work for them. For example, they may have to look down and fidget with their grasp, which takes time and leaves them open to attack. Which tells you that it probably wouldn't work easily in real life, either. Many techniques that rely on fine motor coordination simply won't work in real life when you have your adrenaline pumping and are in a panic. All those fine motor skills just go out the roof.

Hope that helps!