A peroneal strike is a temporarily disabling
blow
Blow commonly refers to:
*Cocaine
*Exhalation
* Strike (attack)
Blow, Blew, Blowing, or Blown may also refer to:
People
* Blew (surname)
* Blow (surname)
Arts and entertainment Music
*The Blow, an American electro-pop band
Albums
* ''Blow ...
to the
common fibular (peroneal) nerve of the leg, just above the
knee
In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...
. The attacker aims roughly a
hand
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "h ...
span above the exterior side of the knee, towards the back of the leg. This causes a temporary loss of
motor control
Motor control is the regulation of movement in organisms that possess a nervous system. Motor control includes reflexes as well as directed movement.
To control movement, the nervous system must integrate multimodal sensory information (both f ...
of the leg, accompanied by
numbness and a painful tingling sensation from the point of impact all the way down the leg, usually lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 hours in duration.
The strike is commonly made with the knee, a
baton, or
shin kick, but can be done by anything forcefully impacting the nerve. The technique is a part of the
pressure point
derive from the supposed meridian points in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Indian Ayurveda and Siddha medicine, and martial arts. They refer to areas on the human body that may produce significant pain or other effects when manipulated in a specific ...
control tactics used in
martial art
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...
s and by
law enforcement agents.
The peroneal strike was used against
detainee
Detention is the process whereby a state or private citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom or liberty at that time. This can be due to (pending) criminal charges preferred against the individual pursuant to a prosecution or t ...
s during the 2002
Bagram torture and prisoner abuse
In 2005, '' The New York Times'' obtained a 2,000-page United States Army investigatory report concerning the homicides of two unarmed civilian Afghan prisoners by U.S. military personnel in December 2002 at the Bagram Theater Internment Facil ...
scandal.
[Rashid, Ahmed. ''Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia''. 2008. New York: Viking Penguin, 2009]
See also
*
Charley horse
A charley horse is a painful involuntary cramp in the legs and/or foot, lasting anywhere from a few seconds to a day. The term formerly referred more commonly to bruising of the quadriceps muscle of the anterior or lateral thigh, or contusion of ...
*
Pain compliance
Pain compliance is the use of painful stimulus to control or direct an organism. The stimulus can be manual (brute force, placing pressure on painful areas, or use of painful hyperextension or hyperflexion on joints), use tools such as a whip or ...
*
Kubotan
Kubotan is a genericized trademark for a self-defense keychain weapon developed by Sōke Takayuki Kubota in the late 1960s. It is typically no more than 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) long and about half an inch (1.25 centimeters) in diameter, sligh ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peroneal Strike
Law enforcement techniques
Violence