Secret punches and sudden death

Before delivering his fabled death blow, DAVID HAMBLING shares the science behind it…

It has long been whispered that certain martial arts masters can kill with a secret punch without leaving a bruise. FT reader Mark Pearson recently alluded to this in a letter (FT446:61) about Alexei Navalny (alleged victim of such a blow), suggesting that a particular punch was banned in bare-knuckle boxing due to its deadliness. Incredible as it may seem, there is a real and deadly science behind such stories. Italian physician Giovanni Lancisi documented the first case in his 1707 book De Subitaneis Mortibus (“On Sudden Death”). Lancisi, an expert on heart conditions and doctor to three popes, wrote: “I once saw the knot of life instantly undone when a man received a powerful blow from a fist under the xiphoid cartilage.” The xiphoid process is at the base…

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Fortean Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 449

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