Every thread that we have had on this before has said that you would hurt the victim’s neck but not kill him, paralyze him or knock him unconscious.
Uh, I’m not picturing this. You’re behind the victim-to-be, your left hand is on their right shoulder and your right hand is on the left. So your forearms are crossed, presumably with your right forearm on top.
I can imagine using your right forearm as a lever, resting on the back of the person’s neck, to forcefully twist the head to the left. But I don’t see the part about “pulling your hands apart”. Can you explain further?
I was in the Marines, 1966-70, and they showed us this niftly little crowd pleaser in boot camp.
You snuck up behind the victim and swung your right arm, very hard, across their throat so that most of your right arm stuck out past the throat. At the same time your left forearm was grasped by your right hand (which was still across the throat) and your left hand was on the back of the victim’s head. The slam to the throat pretty much stunned the victim, allowing the above. Then all you needed to do was drop to the ground and you’d break their neck by forcing it to bend over your forearm. At least in theory. We never really got a chance to try it out for real.
Was never taught neck breaking in the Army. We were taught to take the guard out with a garotte or a knife. We were told if a choice existed to run away if we were unarmed we should take it.
When i was a bouncer I put my left forearm around one side of my friends head, narrow edge wedged up against his neck, and then with my right hand, I pressed his head sideways. My palm was against his ear.
I didnt damage him, but I let go in a hurry because I realized with very little force I could put a severe kink in his neck, possibly prying his vertebrae apart. He had absolutely zero resistance to that direction of motion.
If my description isnt clear, try it this way. No dont actually try it.
Imagine that someone grabs your shirt. You wedge your forearm into the pit of their elbow, and then grab their wrist with your other hand and shove towards their body. Very bad things will happen to their elbow, right?
I think it’s very difficult to kill or paralyze someone the way it’s shown in a movie. But it’s certainly possible because people have been killed and paralyzed through neck twists performed in a different manner. As I indicated in my previous post, this is the reason for a 15 yard penalty in football. Grabbing the facemask of a running player can break his neck as the momentum of his body carries forward and his head twists around because it’s held back. I don’t know what it takes, but spinal fractures like this occassionally cause death (but I don’t think it’s instantaneous). However in football, you have both the additional momentum of a running player and the additional level arm provided by the facemask. I do think it’s doubtful that this can be done simply with the application of hands or in the crook of an arm as shown typically in the movies.
To render someone unconcious is easier. This is what happens when a boxer is hit on the point of a chin from the side such as with a hook. The head twists rapidly compressing the spinal cord and the guy drops to the canvas. I’ve seen a detailed explanation of the physiological reaction, but I couldn’t give you any details. It seems reasonable that you could come up behind someone and turn their head rapidly enough to cause the same effect.