Hey, what's up Doc?
I want to start this post by saying that I think much of this discord comes from the impersonal medium of the internet that does not always convey points well, and I am not the best at expressing myself in quick posts. I understand your skepticism, but there are answers to your questions which might or might not satisfy your uncertainty, but the more you study the subject, the clearer it becomes.
... & I expect claims of being able to easily break femurs with kicks from non-practicing internet blowhards... but then...?
Doc, I'm trying to be truthful with you, and even helpful, but I think you went a bit to far with this comment. You have questions, and I have answers, but it is not easy to demonstrate the truth in words, and your abrasiveness makes it even more difficult.
As I expected.
Again, as I expected.
If this is all you can say to my reply, then you really didn't understand the entire response. Please read this post a little more carefully, and with an open mind. You really might learn something.
Anyone can break a finger.
Are you sure about that? Is that a fact that you have data to back up? What if someone could not break a finger? What if they came to me for lessons. I've never broken anyone's finger, in combat or otherwise. Could I teach them how? If it is only the level of difficulty that is confusing you (a finger is easy, but a femur is hard) then consider this. To juggle two or three balls might be considered easy for some (not me), but they would say that juggling 5 or 10 is hard, and next to impossible. However, the people who do it for a living, and do it daily don't find it so difficult. It is really a matter of skill, and what you are used to being able to do.
I know that does not fully answer your question yet, but it is a pertinent point, so take it in for a moment, then combine it with the rest of my response.
But how can you teach with so little experience, what will work to break bones?
First, I don't have "so little experience" as you put it. My experience covers everything up to and around the exact technique we are talking about. I will concede that if I, personally, have never broken a femur, then there is reason to doubt whether or not I can do it, however, that is not an absolute argument for the fact that I can not demonstrate my ability to do it.
Three questions arise:
1. Can it be done? (is the femur capable of being broken? has anyone ever kicked a femur and broken it?)
2. Can I personally do it? (short of actually doing it, and proving the fact, can a person test their abilities and demonstrate that they are capable?)
3. Would it be easy to do? (If attempted by a person who has been proven capable, would they find it easy or difficult to accomplish in a fight?)
To question one, I believe most will agree that femurs are capable of being broken, and I believe that there are fighters who have, intentionally, with accuracy and power, targeted a femur and broken them (when I have more time I will cite sources - or others can if they know of any).
To question two, it is not so much theory and speculation, as it is formula and common sense. I have never driven a car into a brick wall at 60 mph before, but I have driven a car at 60 mph, and I have hit other objects with a car before, so I am absolutely positive that I could do it if I wanted to, and I believe I know what the resulting damage would be (approximately).
To question three, any action or skill will seem difficult to those who are not so skilled at it. Having street-combat experience, being a fairly well versed instructor, and knowing how easily (from my own perspective) it is for me to tag an opponent where I want, set up a specific strike, and to turn a simple tap in sparring into a complete destruction, full power kick, I can honestly speak as to how "easy" something is for me to do.
For me, doing a running jump over a 5' high bar (like a track & field event), would be very difficult, and might seem impossible to me. However, to jump-spin hook kick someone 6' tall in the head is "easy" in my opinion. Others might consider kicking someone in the chest difficult, and say that I am full of hot air if I say jumping in the air, spinning backwards, and hook kicking a 6' tall guy in the head is easy. However, I'm 47 years old, I can do it, and I find it easy!
If you've never done it, then you can really only imagine what it will do.
If you've never done it, even on accident, then maybe you should just drop the unsubstantiated claims of how easily you could do it if you wanted to.
Ok, Doc, think about this. In my Army Basic Training at Fort Sill, OK., I earned the "expert" badge in Hand-grenades. This means that on an obstacle course, set up by Drill Sergeants who survived Vietnam, we crawled through the mud, and brush and woods, and threw dummy grenades at dummy targets (human figures, foxholes, and buildings with windows. I was good enough to hit the target consistently. We also went to a live grenade range and threw the ones that actually go boom!
Now if my training stopped there, then it would be theory as to what I could personally do in live combat. We know that grenades can be used in combat, and that the do kill when the get near a target, and that many soldiers have used them successfully. So then, it would be down to a question of, could Private Eisenhart do it in real combat. Fortunately for me, I never saw real combat, but lets assume for a moment that I did.
If I were to spend ten years in real combat, and instead of throwing live grenades, I threw smoke canisters near the enemy (the kind that mask your platoon's movements or signal what to do). Suppose that I was able to successfully function in combat, dodging enemy bullets without freezing up or getting killed. If I could consistently and accurately place smoke canisters within inches of the enemy without every blowing anyone up, or killing them, then I would be able to deduce that, if I had chosen to throw a live grenade instead, the enemy would be dead.
How can I logically draw this conclusion. Well, the first part has been established. Hand-grenades have been proven to kill people when they go off, and other soldiers have used them successfully. All I have to do is demonstrate my ability to place the grenade, or a similar object, within the kill zone under combat circumstances, and it is logical that I would be successful at killing enemies with grenades. Then I could say that it would be "easy" for me to do, even though I had never actually killed anyone with a grenade.
If a person holds a grenade in their hands, pulls the pin and releases the lever, I know what damage that grenade will do to their body. I don't ever have to have put a grenade in someone's hands myself, and kill them to know that I could do it. Statistics already exist for that. If I can demonstrate my ability to throw a grenade accurately at a target, then 1 + 1 = 2.
Medical research indicates about how much pressure it takes for various bones to break. If the pressure for breaking a femur (through skin, muscle and everything) is x, and a person shows they can kick with a power of x, then they can likely break a femur, but they might consider it difficult to do. If I can demonstrate that I can break boards with the power of 2x, then breaking a femur might be considered relatively easy to me, where it might seem difficult to you.
The only issue left is how easy and consistently it could be done in a real fight, and there is no way to prove that except to do it. However, with a few, one-on-one sessions with me, I think I could convince you that it is not as difficult as you think.
Anyhow, good luck with your future training, Doc, and I'll see you in the funny papers! :ultracool
Chief Master Darwin J. Eisenhart
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