8 Hand-To-Hand Combat Myths You Probably Believe

MYTH: Snapping someone’s neck is as easy as breaking a pencil between your fingers

TRUTH: Apply a Sleeper Hold and twist to pop the dude’s head like a dandelion bud, right? Well, if that phenomenon were true, there would be a lot of jailed chiropractors. The classic “hangman’s fracture” is calculated with a force of nearly 1,000 lbs. of pressure to reliably break a neck.

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Some elite level fighters can generate that kind of force, but it would take a true perfect storm of force, speed, and technique to fully shatter the protective vertebrae and sever the spinal cord in one fluid motion.