ST 9: RENYING (Man's Welcome)
Level with the t1p of the AdamÂ’s apple, just on the course of the common carotid artery, on the anterior, border of the sternocleidomastoideus muscle In the platysma muscle. 1.5cun lateral to the laryngeal prominence at the meeting of the anterior margin of sternocieldomastoid and the thyroid cartilage.
ST 9 is one of the major Dim-Mak points. It is easy to get to, its effect is devastating raging from knock out for a light blow to death for a heavy blow.
St 9 is situated right over the carotid sinus. The carotid sinus is a baroreceptor, whose job it is to detect an increase in blood pressure. When it detects this increase, it sends s signal via the vagus nerve of which it is a part, to the vasomotor centre of the brain, which initiates a vasodilatation, and slowing of the heart rate to lower the blood pressure to normal.
VASODILATATION: A widening or distension of blood vessels, particularly, arterioles, usually caused by nerve impulses ( as in the case of a strike to ST 9) or certain drugs that relax smooth muscle in the walls of the blood vessel.
VASOMOTOR CENTRE: A collection of cell bodies in the medulla oblongata of the brain that regulates or modulates blood pressure and cardiac function primarily via the autonomic nervous system.
The carotid sinus is a pocket in the wall of the carotid artery at its division in the neck.
Carotid Sinus Reflex:
The martial artist is concerned with a phenomenon called the carotid sinus reflex, the decrease of the heart rate as a reflex reaction from pressure on or within the carotid artery at the level of its bifurcation. This reflex starts in the sinus of the internal carotid artery.
Carotid Sinus Syndrome: This is a temporary loss of consciousness or a knock out that sometimes accompanies convulsive seizures because of the power of the carotid sinus reflex when pressure builds up in one or both carotid sinuses. (Or from a strike). This syndrome can be caused to activate artificially by striking to the area of the carotid sinus, ST 9.
I have done extensive research on the carotid sinus, seeking out the most knowledgeable people in the world. I wanted to know exactly why a person would black out when even sometimes only stroked in this area. Other people have knocked themselves out when they have turned their head suddenly because of a hypersensitive carotid sinus. In striking to ST 9, we fool the brain into believing that deadly high blood pressure is present, and in many cases, high blood pressure is present when struck in this area because of the carotid artery being pinched.
Some people discovered that they could affect en easy knock out by striking to this part of the neck, however, none knew why the KO occurred. Nor did they know the dangers of such strikes, usually done to show what good martial artists they were, purely for ego. I wrote an article back in about 1987 showing the dangers of such strikes and exactly why the KO occurred, the first such article, I believe, that showed the medical implications of such a strike. It was my research in fact that introduced the martial arts community to the fact that this point was in fact ST 9. Nowadays, everyone uses the name of ST 9 to indicate the knock out strike to the neck. Since then, martial artists have been a little more careful when executing these knockouts. But the knockouts should never be done just to show off, they should only ever be used in a self-defence situation as the dangers are great. For instance, a recipient can die several years later from stroke by the internal wall of the carotid artery slowly disintegrating, hence the delayed death touch phenomenon. The martial artist is able to use a very normal and known about medical procedure for his or her advantage. Many doctors will perform the procedure of tweaking the carotid sinus using the fingertips in order to bring the blood pressure down. However, this procedure is only done if the patient is about to die from high blood pressure! It is a very dangerous procedure!
This point also has an affect upon emotional energy and in the end will cause the recipient to have a ‘detached’ feeling or floating, a disconnection between head and body.
It is a known medical fact, (Boigey, M. Lesions et Traumatismes Sportifs, Paris 1938) that striking ST 9 on the right side of the recipient will have a greater affect than on the left side. Medical science is unable to explain this but T.C.M. and Dim-Mak is able to. The right side of the body is considered to be Yang with respect to the left side which is relatively Yin. When striking to ST 9 point on the right side, we attack the Yang side after having set up the point with a Yin strike to PC 6. This, Yin strike has a far greater affect on the Yang side of the body because it is opposite.
First Observations Of A ST 9 Knock Out
(From "The Medical Aspects Of Boxing, 1941)
July 1940 there was an opportunity to observe for the first time a knock out caused by a strike to the right carotid sinus in a fencer. This case, which to our knowledge is the first observation of its kind, appears to be of great physiological interest. The padded tip of the blade first hit the victim beneath the right clavicle.
(…No particular points here but this is the area of ‘the power band’ which when struck takes all power from the upper body and is in keeping with the effects of these two strikes on the fencer. .. Erle).
The blade subsequently bent over and the tip slipped over the clavicle, and with a sharp impact, hit the right carotid sinus (St 9) from below. The victim immediately lost control over his movements. He stumbled backwards, his arms dropped, his knees bent and he hell to the ground unconscious. More than one second had elapsed between being struck and losing consciousness. He was weak for four hours afterwards after regaining consciousness some 3 minutes later!
Here we have the first observations by doctors of a ST 9 strike back in 1940! What happened to the recipient is in keeping with the ST 9 strike and most other people who receive such strikes either from irresponsible martial artists in seminar or accidentally in sports etc., all say much the same thing. Some people have more, or less affect due to the sensitiveness of their carotid sinus.
