The Truth About the Brachial Stun
Have you ever heard about the well-known Brachial Stun if you joined any martial arts?
What’s more exciting than one of the most legendary one punch knockout technique? Nothing!
You will definitely wait for it in every boxing match, every street fight or every action movie: The power to shut a person down with one touch.
What if there was a way every person could do this?
Not with power or muscle, but with technique and precision, something that the frail and the weak could apply.
According to policing and self-defense professionals, there is.
What Is A “Brachial Stun”?
In essence, this is a deceptively simple strike to the neck.
When done correctly this is supposed to be an instant knock out, causing the recipient a bit of pain and virtually “switching off’ his body for a couple seconds”.
The stun from this strike can last anywhere from 3 to 7 seconds. Sometimes longer if more serious damage was done.
Take a look at this famous video of a pimp getting knocked out by a karate instructor.
From the video, you can see that this is not just an ordinary knockout.
The strike has completely messed up the pimp’s nervous system. It’s nearly like he was hit in the head with a baseball bat.
The Misconception: What People Think Happens
The general consensus in the martial arts community is that the brachial stun attacks a nerve cluster called the Brachial Plexus.
This nerve cluster is in the shoulder, and shoots of into the arms. It connects your arms to your central nervous system (brain and spine). The theory is that hitting this spot with enough force completely overwhelms your system.
Just like a laptop or a phone with a malfunction, this is meant to fix the bugs plaguing your system.
Since the nerves targeted belong to the Brachial Plexus, the strike picked up the name brachial stun.
BUT, This theory is wrong!
What Actually Happens
The Brachial Plexus and its associated nerves, which only supplies afferent and efferent nerve fibers to the chest, shoulder, arm, forearm, and hand are actually too deep inside the body.
These are major nerve links and they are well protected by layers of muscle and skin, along with being in an awkward position. Much of the nerve cluster is inside the neck and the collar.
The only way to attack it would be by using a weapon strong enough to make the force penetrate that deep (like a metal rod), or by using something that can pierce (like a knife).
In other words, what we saw in the video earlier can’t have anything to do with these nerves.
Rather this is a strike that utilizes the more superficial nerves near the blood vessels in the neck.
Auricular Temporal Nerve – Source: Wikipedia
Vagus Nerve – Source: Wikipedia
It’s more likely that striking these nerves causes the dramatic stun effect.
Your precious body has a very sensitive and complex nerve system and by giving enough stimulation, any nerve can be overloaded.
This feeling is similar when you think of your funny bone, the most annoying nerve in your body, that one inside your elbow, you accidentally bang your elbow on a sharp edge then your whole arm goes numb.
Hitting the Greater Auricular Nerve and Vagus Nerve is much the same, but instead of messing with your arm, it messes with your whole body.
So ideally speaking this should be called the “Auricular Stun” or “Vagus Strike”.
How Do You Properly & Safely Execute It?
This is a move taught to law enforcement. It’s meant to help subdue and control an assailant without hurting him.
The idea is to stun the attacker long enough to gain an advantageous position.
For example, in Krav Maga this would mean striking and quickly restraining the assailant with a pin or arm lock, before he can recover.
These are the basics of applying a brachial stun:
- Strike using either your palm, backhand, outer forearm or inner forearm. Never hit anyone with a chop or the bony part of your wrist/arm. This is the neck we are talking about. Your query could suffer serious injuries from a sharp blow. You want to attack with a flat surface to create force but not damage.
- Aim for the large blood vessel on the neck just under the ear. That’s where you’ll find the Greater Auricular Nerve and Vagus Nerve.
- Don’t pull your strike back like you would a hard punch. Penetration is one of the most important aspects of this attack. Pulling back will mean that the nerve doesn’t receive enough of a shock. At the same time too much penetration could break a vertebra or cause blood pressure problems.
- This is a Counter. Don’t try leading with an attack like this. You either need to throw it of a combination or a faint. It’s better used in closed quarter situations, where you and the target aren’t left with much room to maneuver.
You can see a short example of practicing brachial stun:
And also a good video about the Brachial Stun used by police:
TIP:
- I find that you need to hit slightly behind the blood vessel. So more in line with the ear.
- If you do this lightly to yourself you’ll find that there is a spot where you instantly feel a tingle in your feet.
- I’m not saying knock yourself out, just for your information.
How Do You Properly & Safely Execute It
The Brachial Stun is a legit, one strike knockout technique.
However, this is obviously not meant to be used in any sort of combat sport.
And it targets a sensitive area, so, I don’t recommend you try using it if you don’t know how much force is really needed.
Basically it’s something you should learn under supervision and only use when necessary.
If you could master it, this move will quite literally turn your hands into a Taser.
Recommended post:
The Best Ways to Knock Someone Out Without Hurting Them
If you must to knock someone out in a self-defense situation, but afraid of hurting them or may even kill them, then these series of techniques will serve you well.