Can a Green Beret type really break an enemies neck just like in the movies?

Factual Questions
1

And kill him instantly?
You know, by grabbing his chin and head, and twisting? It looks sooo macho, but if it can be done, it seems to me that hired killers would do it.
Besides, I’m a little concerned about what our new gov. might do if lawmakers don’t go along with him. I live in CA.
Peace,
mangeorge

2

Since when is Arnie a Green Beret? Don’t recall SF training on his resume.

3

Maybe not, but he was a spy, an assassin, a human hunting death machine, an elite commando, a US Army major, a pregnant man, a nut with a refridgerator and a cameo, among other things.

4

I imagine with the proper strength and concentration that it’s very possible, just like going through 4 bricks is possible with a bit of training. The reason hired killers don’t do it is probably because (a) when was the last time you saw an actual hired killer? and (b) you need sneak right up behind people, which is alot more dangerous. It’s generally safer to go for a silenced gun or crossbow or something than going for the neck-break, however macho it may be.

5

It’s a myth. If the neck was so weak that people could be killed by twisting their heads with your hands, people would be dropping like flies from broken necks.

6

FWITW I was telling my chiropractor about a previous bone crusher I had been to and his method. When I described his method of grabbing my head (while I was sitting up) and wrenching it to the side (rather violently) her comment was “Oh, he did the million dollar move on you.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah we call it the million dollar move, because every once and a while someone winds up paralyzed from it, and the lawsuit is about one million dollars.”

Can you hurt someone that way? I’m guessing yes. Could you kill someone? Beats me.

7

We had a previous thread on the subject:

Eventually it came down to two posters arguing the opposite views. Peace, the poster who argued that it is possible, was eventually banned. In my recollection he was banned for repeatedly implying he had expertise in various subjects, and then refusing to detail what his expertise actually was.

8

(-ahem-)

      • Well first you need to keep in mind: what someone who has won the Mr Universe title can manage and what a regular skinny slob can do are two different things entirely.
  • You can break someone’s neck instantly, but it’s not by twisting. The old military method is to sneak up behind them, wrap one arm underneath their chin, wrap your other arm around your initial arm’s wrist (locking it into place), and then you fling your feet backwards out from under you. You fall down onto your stomach and they fall onto their back, but your arm being trapped under their chin snaps their neck, just like that.
    …
  • The “alleged he-man” method is to wrap your first arm as said with your upper forearm underneath their chin, but then use the heel of your other palm to strike very hard against the back of their head, about 2/3 up the skull. This is said to be enough to disable someone–I don’t know anyone who has actually used it on another person, but it is certainly a real good way to critically injure them–and it’s worth knowing just to make certain you don’t ever accidentally do it.
    ~
9

Slightly off topic, but I did learn a move in Ju-Jitsu that was similar. It involved cutting off the blood supply to the head for a couple of seconds.

It didn’t kill, but it would render someone unconscious very quickly (about 2-3 seconds). I know this as it was done to me.

10

It is not possible in the manner shown in the movies. As already pointed, if the human neck was that weak we’d have a real problem with the survival of the species.

However, that doesn’t mean it is impossible to break the neck emptyhanded. I’ve seen a couple of techniques that seem promising (I refuse to give specific instructions because of the ethical implications of teaching such techniques) but of course the practicality of actually trying them makes it pretty much impossible to say for sure.

The key to all bone breaks is to: 1) strike the bone with more force than it can handle while minimizing area of impact (i.e. high penetration, high pressure, high force), 2) overextend the joints connected to the bone past their point of flexibility while locking connected joints in place.

I think it can be plainly seen how both of these are tricky to accomplish on the neck, but I’m not inclined to say impossible.