Monday, October 24, 2011

In Search of Clarity

I'm working on the manual for talking down EDPs (Emotionally Disturbed Persons) and I pretty much have to do a section on what to do when it goes bad. This will be an e-book, since it is far too short for print publishing. Since it's an e-book I want to avoid pictures. They really mess up the formatting.

Is this description of a figure-four leg lock and seal position handcuffing clear?

The figure-four leg lock is also useful. Any technique used on the knee joint, especially if it relies on pain, will have a risk of injury. To apply the technique you place the threat’s left ankle directly in the hollow of his right knee (if I have to tell you the directions can be reversed, you probably aren’t bright enough to be literate anyway). The right knee is then flexed (bent) which both traps the left ankle and puts pressure on the knee such that it can be snapped.

The farther towards the toes you apply pressure, the better leverage you have. Many threat will be able to simply kick you off if you don’t apply good leverage. Almost all will be able to kick you off if you try to cross the legs at the ankles instead of putting the ankle directly in the knee joint.

You do not need to control this hold with your hands. In the example above (right knee locked, left ankle trapped) I kneel with my left knee outside of the threat’s butt, the threats right foot in the crease of my thigh and my right ankle hooked behind the threat’s trapped left ankle.

I learned the hook trick because the only person I’ve ever had escape from the figure four was a very small, wiry and quite dangerous mentally ill female who had a thing for stabbing people. She just did what looked like a military low crawl and pulled herself out of the lock.

This is an excellent unhandcuffing technique and a very good hands-free control hold. If the threat will not give up the hands for cuffing, if they ‘turtle,’ you can reach under their face (fingers flat to prevent biting, just like feeding a horse) and use the pressure point under the nose at the base of the bone to extend the spine. They will put their hands on the ground to support their own weight and you can simply yank one of the support hands back for cuffing.

After experiencing this, most NTs will voluntarily give up the remaining hand. You may have to do it twice for EDPs.

'NT' in the above paragraph means 'neurotypical' short hand for not an EDP. It's explained elsewhere in the handbook.


Clear enough to do?

19 comments:

Thomas M. said...

The jump from the leg lock to the handcuffing position irritated me for a second when I read it the first time. I guess you just copied and pasted two seperate parts that aren't supposed to fit exactly behind each other like this?

Technique-wise I got what you were talking about without any problem. This probably doesn't mean too much because I already played with both concepts on different occasions, but I'm sure people could understand the description without former experience.

Somebody who never saw these moves before and doesn't have any experience at all at controlling people might have a hard time to grasp the positions of two bodies from a written description - but I don't see a way to get around this as a writer and without pictures. At least anybody who decides to get a second person and go through your steps should get it in no time... And anybody who isn't even ready to try it out at all probably wouldn't be able to use it from memory with pictures either... In my opinion it is fine and you shouldn't need to worry about it.

Lisa said...

This is going to sound horribly pedantic, but for clarity's sake, I would probably also mention that the threat is face down at the beginning of the technique, and describe whether you yourself are facing the threat's head or his L or R side or his feet.

I would also consider changing this line:

The right knee is then flexed (bent) which both traps the left ankle and puts pressure on the knee such that it can be snapped.

to something like this:

Then lift the right ankle up so that you trap the left ankle in the crook of the right knee, which puts pressure on the knee such that it can be snapped.

just because that way it's clear that you have to do that part, and not that the threat is doing it to himself for some reason.

And this may be telling, but I can't see what you're describing to make it hands-free... probably because I'm not sure which direction you're facing in your description. Sorry!

Rob Lyman said...

I'm familiar with the figure four, but I'm fuzzy on which direction you're facing and what you mean by "hooking" the threat's left ankle. I might get it if I tried it out but I'm at a desk at the moment.

Rory said...

Good feedback. No, Thomas, it's not a split thing cut and pasted. It's very helpful to know that it reads like that. Lisa and Rob- Facing the head. Dumb thing to leave out. Thanks.

Nick Lo said...

I was going to say what Lisa said (so Lisa you weren't being pedantic and I think I'm about to be worse) and also suggest the "use the pressure point under the nose at the base of the bone" isn't completely clear.

Do you mean the base of the bone or the point where the cartilage meets the upper lip and if so I'd expect you're suggesting having the knife edge of your palm (keeping fingers out of biting range) at that point with the rest of your hand cupping the nose? Or you may literally mean where the tip of the nose bone meets the nose cartilage but I'd expect it'd be hard to keep a grip there.

For some extra, extra pedant points I'm also curious how well this works with different types of noses. My (Chinese) wife's nose is infinitely more pliable and likely difficult to "grip" (admittedly I've never tried this and very much doubt it'd be welcomed) than my oversized caucasian one.

kenpokiwi said...

atergintRory, I have a video clip of you slapping it on me from the achilles lock position. I'll send it to you.

Matt H said...

I understand what you are saying. The hooking of the ankle....sweet tweak. I will have to try that soon. I think you need some type of drawing or reference to a YouTube video or something along those lines for a lot of people to understand totally. You actually can control with an ankle cross to cuff but that is a different leg technique. You have two different people asking different basic questions one about which direction and two about nose size for the pressure point. Too me that should state pic or online reference is in order for better all around understanding for us "illiterates". Love the idea of an EDP ebook.

Toby said...

I think Matt's got a good point. As this is an ebook, adding in a hyperlink or similar taking you to an image or a clip (an extract of your new DVD maybe???) is viable and very useful if the reader is struggling a little to 'get it'...

Anonymous said...

"In the example above (right knee locked, left ankle trapped) I kneel with my left knee outside of the threat’s butt, the threats right foot in the crease of my thigh and my right ankle hooked behind the threat’s trapped left ankle."

I didn't understand this bit. My questions: Which side is your knee on (threat's left or right butt cheek)? I assume the 'crease of my thigh' is made when your leg is bent and just means behind your knee. I have never heard that term before. I don't understand where your right foot is, maybe between their legs above or below their shin?

I am a bit disappointed that this book is only going to be an ebook, I have been looking forward to it. There is nothing wrong with short books you know. People publish them all the time. I would think that would make it nice and cheap and people who dealt with this kind of situations could have one just lying around the staff room. I was planning to buy one for myself, one for my Mum who is a psychologist and one for a friend who works as a carer for mentally and physically disabled people. I wouldn't buy them an ebook.

John.

Josh Kruschke said...

I was confused for a sec. I was picturing the Ric Fliar wresling move of the same name. It wasn't until a commentor mentioned the opponent was face down that it clicked.

:-)
Josh

Unknown said...

Rory,

Are you stating that your left knee is down next to subject's left buttock and you right knee is up (foot down), with subject's right foot atop your right thigh in the crease between your thigh and pelvis,"trapping" the foot between your thigh/pelvis/lower torso? With the subject's left ankle trapped behind their right knee in the bend ?

If that is so I think I am following. Also, any local classes classes coming up ?

Thanks,

Dustin

Anonymous said...

You're very good about describing what you're doing with the threat's legs, but you're not as clear as to what you're doing with your own. What does "outside the butt" mean? And which leg are you using to do the hook?

Derek Simonds said...

"In the example above (right knee locked, left ankle trapped) I kneel with my left knee outside of the threat’s butt, the threats right foot in the crease of my thigh and my right ankle hooked behind the threat’s trapped left ankle."

How about this. The threats right foot in the hip crease of my right quad and hip and the top of my right foot hooked behind the threats trapped ankle.

In my mind this would allow the right knee to be able to ride wherever you need it, on their glute or all the way to the ground for more pressure.

Or at least that is what I am visualizing.

Anonymous said...

Somehow missed the "right foot planted behind threat's (trapped) left ankle. Makes perfect sense now.

Thanks,

Dustin

Mark Thompson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jay said...

I've seen things of this nature several times, but there's some right-left confusion that I'm not getting.

I assume the threat is face-down and you are facing their head. The threats right knee is bent with left ankle trapped in it. Then shouldn't your right knee be kneeling to the outside? If it's the left knee that's kneeling "outside", then it's crossing one or the other of the threat's legs.

Doing something like this, I would put my left knee down between the threats legs, with active toes behind the threat's (crossed and trapped) shinbone. My right foot would have it's sole on the floor and my leg making a right angle. This is the classic "take a knee" position, only the threats right foot is caught on the inside of my thigh.

Is this what you had in mind?

Steve Perry said...

Use a picture. It's not that hard to embed one.

Or, put a footnote number next to the text and stick the picture at the end.

Jim said...

I agree with Steve. Use a picture, even if you put them on separate pages with illustration references like in an older book. I have a hard time figuring out blocks of texts about body movements.

AF1 said...

You can link to videos in ebooks, that is probably even better than a picture.