Additionally, closing the hands limits options the user can only really punch. Closing the hands to punch tends to tighten up the arms, which creates tension and slows things down, both of which lessen impact potential. The use of open hands also allows the arms/hands to stay relatively relaxed, which facilitates greater speed and power, and better reactive use. This situation can result in an infection in the hand of the user, analogous to gangrene if not treated properly. In addition to breaking the hand during the impact of striking with a closed fist, there is also the possibility of cutting the knuckles on the teeth of the recipient, a highly likely possibility if punching to the head. Open hand strikes facilitate this latter best case option. Ideally, what the user wants is low risk/high success, such that trauma is caused to the recipient without any undue trauma to the user. This is usually the result of unpredictable body dynamics during actual confrontation (such as a moving target) and the fact that, in the emotion of a fight, people tend to ‘lose it’ and simply flay away at the target in general, usually the head.Ī hard ‘weapon’ (fist) against a hard ‘target’ (skull) creates a high risk/high success situation (high success = effect on target, high risk = effect on user). The risk of closed fist strikes to the user in terms of self-trauma is quite high, as evidenced by the number of instances of people breaking their hands when punching (including ‘professional’ fighters such as boxers and mixed martial arts practitioners). Open hand strikes are more instinctive and require less training time to become effective in an operational context. Closed fist strikes (that is, punch) require extensive training to be effective in actual combat, something which most officers do no receive nor do they dedicate the time to learn. The hand is comprised of many small bones positioned end to end, designed for dexterous manipulation, not blunt force trauma. To express this logically, the rationale will be broken into several categories. With regard to the open hand versus closed hand striking debate, open hands are a highly effective strategy when used correctly and in appropriate circumstances, having more positives and fewer negatives than closed fist strategies. However, with the increased incidence of severe and sometimes lethal consequence of closed hand attacks, there is little logic in officers using closed hands for control when open hands are far safer and more versatile. Many operational safety training programs still teach closed fist strategies to officers for resolution of violence and subject control.
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