Small Joints

[Tom Keesler]

I was looking through some of the manuals and I noticed that there seems to be a lack of small joint manipulation ( ie wrist locks and the such) with the exception of one or two finger dislocations. Does anyone have any thoughts on this. I don't have any experience in armored fighting and don't understand how that would affect the use of wrist locks and similar techniques.

[Stewart Sackett]

The thing is, for small joint manipulation to work, the body has to be relatively still in relation to that joint so that the person being attacked cannot move & compensate for the pressure. As a result, most small joint manipulation requires some degree large joint control first.

If you can control the arm then you can probably apply a wristlock, but why not just use the arm control to throw or simply break the arm? If you can pin someone down then you could probably get a wristlock, but why not simply draw your rondel & stab them?

The manuals tend to show small joint manipulation such as finger breaks, along with other things that today might be considered "foul tactics", as a form of pain compliance mostly used to help in escaping holds.

In unarmed combat I think it's easier to achieve a large joint control then it is a small joint control & a wrist lock/break is less likely to end a fight then hyper extending the elbow or dislocating the shoulder.

Of course, that's only unarmed. there are a number of plays that use the longsword or rondel as a hook & lever to attack & control the wrist. I think this is particularly true with the longsword because having both your hands "tied" to the hilt creates many opportunities for wrist/hand control.

[Tom Keesler]

Good points Stewart, thanks.