Excerpt from Brian Adam's Book
Deadly Karate Blows:
The Medical Implications

Striking the Forehead:


Against a club attack to the head, defender sidesteps to the outside and parries or redirects the momentum of the attacker's downward blow toward his thigh, bringing his head down and forward.

While holding his arm down, defender pivots into an elbow strike between the eyes. This technique was completed in 7/10 of one second.

WEAPON: Elbow
TARGET: Middle of forehead

Medical Implications:


I. TWO BLACK EYES would be the slightest possible effect due to the branching out pattern of the deep winding blood vessels in this region of the skull.

II. A LIGHT TO SEVERE CONCUSSION would occur assuming (as we shall in all techniques presented in this work) that all of the forces are moving well and in the right directions. In this case, the head would be moving down and forward into the oncoming elbow. This would increase the impact greatly and thereby increase the effectiveness of the blow by nearly one hundred per cent.

A "concussion" is the vibration (or shaking) of the brain within the brain case. The damage caused by such shaking can range from almost insignificant to certainly fatal results, depending upon the number of blood vessels ruptured and their positions relative to the brain itself.

Rupture of the vessels in the membrane (Dura) surrounding the brain or, more deeply, in the brain itself, will cause a brain hemorrhage and attendant blood clot. Such clots may cause immediate death or paralysis (as in a "stroke") or it may cause pressure to build up within the brain until "something gives." A really effective, well-focused elbow strike to the center of the forehead would be expected to run the gauntlet from unconsciousness and coma to death.

III. A SKULL FRACTURE OR A FRACTURE THROUGH THE FRONTAL SINUS (a small cavity above the eyebrow) would be one effect if the blow were struck slightly to one side or the other of the lower forehead. If the elbow strike were a follow-through type blow, it would cause the bone fragments of the first fracture to be driven through the back of the thin-boned wall of the sinus cavity and into the brain, causing bleeding there. There would be also profuse bleeding from the nostrils because of the tearing of mucous membrane lining in the sinus cavity. The result will cause immediate unconsciousness, coma, and most certainly death.

IV. A WHIPLASH INJURY would occur due to the quick change of head position. (First the head would lean forward and down and then it would be suddenly snapped straight back while the rest of the body was still moving in the opposite direction). With this action, one of the vertebral tips (spinous process) might be forced against a larger tip and be completely chipped off the vertebrae, resulting in extreme pain and stiffness of the neck.

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