What are you crazy?

Are you suggesting you hit Kyusho targets with your elbow?  Our answer... "Of Course".

You are to use whatever you are comfortable with, head buts, knees, open or closed hand... even your shoulders... but for now lets look close at the power of the elbow.  With the correct adaptations to make it Kyusho Friendly (well maybe not so friendly).

The typical swing of an elbow will make the strike surface be a broader section of the arm and not the point of the elbow itself.  This will make it less useful on Kyusho (although who needs Kyusho if you elbow someone), unless you stab with the bone instead of swinging it.  The best way to use the elbow for Kyusho is with a stabbing type of attack and although it will not generate the same power of a swinging type strike, it will cause major damage or cessation of functionality as it penetrates the target.

Now the head would be a bit different as the nerves are close to the surface and backed up by hard bone.... so even a swinging elbow can properly activate the cranial nerves... but only a certain few... and at the correct trajectory.  Most people in Kyusho have not worked with the elbow - head connection a lot and they have missed a huge potential.  To gain a good perspective on some targets and trajectories, refer to the ground application of the Compression series.

However on all softer backed, cushioned or surrounded targets (arms, body, legs, neck), will need a stabbing type action to gain the depth and acuity of the attack to send the proper message through the nervous system to the brain.  Or for an organ you will need to penetrate in a focused, penetrating way as they are very deep in the body cavity and the soft tissue surrounding, backing or covering it will offer protection against an arched swinging elbow attack over a broad striking surface.

And once you start working the stabbing elbow, even the head is more susceptible in a variety of combative modalities.  We saw time and time again in early MMA fights where ineffective elbows land on the opponent.  Just learning a target is not enough in this case, as the tool becomes of major importance.  So you must train all the various angles and worlk them into a dynamic applicational training scenario to yield the best assurance of skill and usability.

As an example lets take a waist tackle type move where the opponent grabs you around the waist or hips to take you off your feet.  The typical way to drop an elbow down on the opponents head, shoulders or back, uses the back of the upper arm by the elbow a broad and padded tool.  This is a powerful but very inefficient use of the tool, as the back is strong and designed in part to protect the inner vulnerabilities.  To properly elbow the opponent and gain access to the deeper and more vulnerable structures, you must let them run into, or stab into their body with the tip of the elbow itself.  This posture or action is mimic in many Kata, like Sanchin and Nai Hanchi.  A more detailed description is to hold the forearm out at a 45 degree angle so that the leading part is the tip of the elbow.  If you hold a 90 degree angle with the forearm, you will invariably contact or the soft triceps muscle or tendon instead, or even spread the contact on the frontal forearm, which will remain again only a surface (and ineffective) attack.

Again do not focus so much on technique, hone your tools and targets for greater overall success.

-ep