Joint Locks (and Counters) for Arrest/Control (Part 1)

Author: Odhinn Kohout

 In order to properly understand how to perform an effective lock on a limb of the person you are attempting to arrest you MUST understand the orientation of the joint affected by the lock.

For example:

The wrist is able to rotate a full 360 deg while the elbow joint only moves along one axis. I see many other combatives systems neglect  the explanation (which in my opinion )MUST follow along when teaching a group of Military/Police students how to perform locks to either the arms or legs.

Failure to do so, ends up frustrating an eager student who cannot figure out why what you have showed them does not work when they try to duplicate the technique in training.

Truth be told many Instructors do not have the bio-mechanical knowledge themselves and therefore end up teaching  a “bunch of moves” instead of approaching CQC within an anatomical framework of how and why a joint is affected by a lock.

   

Ask yourself this...

Many of my own students ask me every course how to COUNTER locks that they have seen or are concerned about the day that a criminal might know how to use a sophisticated lock on them in the course of their duties. If you do not know how the lock actually works then what hope do you have of explaining an escape from it to your class of Officers?

Divide every lock you teach into two components:

1.       From the perspective of the Officer to affect control

2.       Escaping from the same lock if attacked by a skilled criminal

The horrible truth, is that you have seconds to escape OR the limb will be broken.

 It gets worse…

Depending on how the lock is performed the joint can suffer a twist fracture instead of a clean break nullifying the limb for the rest of the fight. One example of this is the common “heel hook” which breaks the knee on an angle. You may have noticed that a Mixed Martial Arts Fighters almost always immediately taps if caught in a “deep heel hook” as opposed to trying to fight through it. The reason is it is better to learn for a defeat in which you have suffered no injuries instead of not being able to train for 7 months.

The difference when learning locks is to understand the difference between a lock which locks the bone and one that is based on pain compliance. Everyone has a different degree of pain tolerance.

Criminals suffering from some sort of mental illness have a very HIGH degree of resistance to pain. If your agency has incorporated “excited delirium” awareness into its curriculum you will have seen many videos which demonstrate this.

For Military/Police who may find themselves involved in a violent arrest it is very important from the standpoint of Officer Safety to keep a person under arrest safely secured. The person who you may be struggling with could be of greater mass and strength which is why it is so important that your students are not merely reproducing what you are showing them but actually comprehending the material so that it can be used/recalled during the cognitive process of field applications.

If you have any questions or would like to incorporate our Joint Locks into your department’s defensive tactics program just contact me and I will be glad to help.