Xena & Pressure Points
Xena: "Show me that thing you do."
- Destiny
Ok, we've all seen Xena using pressure points, both to stop the pain in someone she's healing, and to cut off the flow of blood to the brain in the infamous 'pinch'. And we all know its just a fictional technique, right? Wrong. Or at least half wrong. Pressure points are real things, but there uses are a little exaggerated.
So what are Pressure Points? They are specific areas on the body that are used for Acupressure and Acupuncture. But don't write them off as just imaginary parts of an 'alternative' medicine. Pressure points have very specific positions in your body which are easily explained in Western medicine. The pressure points (or nerve points) are located where nerves come close to the surface, at nerve junctions, or where a nerve crosses a bone. They are also very sensitive to bioelectrical impulses (they can actually be found using electronic equipment). Basically this means, stimulating this part of your body has a increased sensation effect. A good example of this would be your 'funny bone' (don't quote me on this, but I'm sure it's a pressure point), isn't it interesting that a slight tap to the elbow, which in any other place wouldn't normally cause any discomfort, can send a rather nasty shock right through your arm.
Xena: "Sinteres knows how to kill using pressure points."
Gab: "Is that the same stuff that you know."
Xena: "Yeah, it just depends how you use it."
- The Royal Couple Of Thieves
Pressure points are used in many martial arts. Some advanced forms of Karate employ them, where the techniques are called Kyusho Jutsu. Also many Chinese arts (including Tai Chi Chaun) use the Dim Mak ("Death Points"), [same points, different name]. I'm not entirely convinced by the claimed explanations but here is what I think is going on. A strike to a pressure point essentially directs the full force of the attack straight to the nerve. So basically it hurts like hell.
In The Royal Couple of Thieves (ep 1.17) and similarly in Hong Kong classics Fong Sai Yuk 2 and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, we see points being used to paralyze or freeze specific limbs. Can this be done? Mmm, I don't think so. When you bang your funny bone your arm goes all juddery and feels numb, so I guess you cant have full control/sensation for a few seconds. But its not quite the same. Similarly we see people having to have the points released to regain control, this doesn't really happen (you cant 'un-hit' a person). It may be possible to trap a nerve, perhaps in a bone joint, which could stop impulses going through. For example if you trapped the nerve in your arm up at the shoulder, you'd lose control and feeling in your arm, until it was released. But I've never heard of this being done. It's definitely not a part of a Martial Art I've heard of. A similar effect can be noticed if you sleep or sit in an awkward position for too long and it feels like your arm or leg has gone to sleep - that's because you've applied pressure on the nerve for too long. Of course neither of the two above examples above have anything to do with pressure points, but it's a similar effect.
The more common use of pressure points in martial arts is to knock people out. A few direct hits to pressure points causes such a large jolt that it sends your nervous system all out of whack. Your body copes with this by making you faint (I don't know why, it just does). There are tones of videos on the web of this happening (I'll give you some links later).
"I've just cut of the flow of blood to your brain, you'll be dead in 30 seconds unless I release you".
So does the pinch work? Nope, at least not in that way. Blocking off the flow of blood to the brain is something I learned a bit about in Primary School, when everybody was practicing wrestling moves. If you apply pressure to the main arteries in the neck (to the sides of your windpipe), for a few seconds you can knock a person out (not recommended) or even kill someone if you do it for too long (definitely not recommended). But this requires your whole arm to hold them down, not just a few finger jabs. Possibly a more accurate explanation I got from a medic friend. There is a place on your neck which if struck hard can disrupt the part of your body that regulates the blood flow, as a result your body gets confused and can't distribute blood properly (e.g. to the brain) and you die shortly after. We worked out that it's probably a point called S9 which is situated on either side of the Adams apple.
Sinteres: "Death has a thousand doors to let out life, and Prognese, I've saved one just for you."
-The Royal Couple Of Thieves
There are lots of Martial Arts stories about Death Points, but they're all fictional. In The Royal Couple of Thieves, Sinteres kills someone by striking pressure points on the eyes. I'm afraid there aren't any points there. This is probably a mistaken reference to Fong Sai Yuk 2, where at the end (spoiler alert) Sai Yuk (played by Jet Lee) is fighting the bad guy and he asks his Mum where the death point is, she calls back "The eyes". But this is just a trick to get the Bad guy to cover his eyes while Sai Yuk jumps over him and hits a point on his back. Possibly TPTB at Renaissance didn't get this trick. Or maybe the whole thing was just set up so that Xena could do the 3 Stooges defense at the end of the ep.
Its probably worth mentioning Xena's technique for hitting points. The two finger technique is known as the Double Phoenix Fist (as apposed to the simple Phoenix fist which uses just one finger). This looks really cool, but isn't used much today. Basically because you can seriously bust up your fingers, and if you miss the point (which is pretty easy considering how small they are) you've wasted the opportunity. Modern arts prefer to use a knuckle on a clenched fist of the edge of the hand, so that if you miss the point it's still an effective strike.
Xena: "I'll have to deaden the pain while I do this."
Solan: "It doesn't hurt."
Xena: "I can only cut off the feeling for a little while."
- Orphan of War
So can pressure points be used to stop pain? Yep, this is there best use. Applying gently pressure to points is a great way to release endorphins in the brain which, among other things, suppress pain. Alternatively the way I think about it is that by applying pressure to a point will reduce the amount of sensation lower down the nerve. So holding a point above an injury will reduce the amount of (pain) signal that gets up to your brain. This is an example of localized points. There are also associated points which affect areas of the body that are not directly connected. Which is the premise of reflexology where points on the foot relate to other areas of the body. I presume these work because of a connection higher up in the nerve steams.
One of my favorite examples of associated points in use is seen in the episode Lost Mariner (2.21), where Xena pushes a points on Gabrielle's wrist to combat her sea sickness. The point is called P6 and is located a couple of inches above the wrist on the inside center, it works for motion sickness and nausea.
The point is pretty easy to find, just apply some deep pressure on various locations in that area. You'll know when you've found it, remember it's a sensitive point on the nerve (if you recall Gabby gives a little yelp). Unfortunately it doesn't quite have the instantaneous effect seen on the show, it requires a good minute or two of pressure to get a result.
Oh well, that will do for now. If I see anymore cool points being used on the show I'll write about them.
If anybody is interested in learning more about pressure points there are many good books and web pages on them.
For health application I primarily use Acupressure by Michael Reed Gach.
For Martial Arts application, checkout www.Kyusho.com or www.dragonsociety.com
Oh and just to round it off here are a couple of my favorite videos which can be found along with many others at Kyusho.com
1) KO from 3 points being simultaneously hit
2) A common 2 point Ko