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Self Defense Tactic: Target the Nose

Overview

The nose is a little overused as a target in fighting (and targeting it is even a little cliché), but it is a very effective self-defense target if you know how to use it. I’m not talking about a right cross to the nose. That is what your opponent is expecting and it is too easy to block or avoid.

However, the nose can be an effective target if you use a different technique (which I’ll get into next week). For now I’m going to explain exactly why the nose is such a vulnerable target.

Why the Nose?

The nose is extremely sensitive because the end of the nose is made of cartilage and not bone. So, it is not hard enough to resist force, but is also not soft enough to absorb force easily (like a poke to the cheek).

Try it yourself

  • Make a fist and hit yourself in the cheek bone a couple times.
  • Now use the same force on your nose

It hurts more. Now, just imagine applying a whole lot more pressure.

Yeah it’s going to hurt a lot, that’s what makes the nose such a great target for self-defense.

An Easily Accessible Target

The nose is also a good target because it sticks out, making it easy to grab hold of.

In fact, one of the best uses of this target is as a control lever for an attackers head. It’s especially vulnerable when you strike or torque it in an upward motion, bending it back on itself.

This is very painful because the cartilage is bending back and smashing up against the nose bone, yet another reason why it should be a part of your self defense arsenal!

This is especially useful in a self-defense situation where you are up close and personal with an attacker. The nose is often open if you are grappling or on the ground with an attacker.

Quick To Bleed

Lastly, the nose bleeds easily. It has a ton of small blood vessels in it and they rupture easily. This will often distract your opponent long enough for you to escape. The bottom line is that the nose is a weak and vulnerable target which you should always have in mind when you find yourself in a self-defense situation.

Tune in for the next post where I will show you exactly how to use a nose strike to devastate an opponent.

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245 thoughts on “Self Defense Tactic: Target the Nose”

  3. Thanks for that great advice. Having suffered a broken nose while playing soccer, I know how vulnerable a target the nose can be…an unintentional head butt. Thanks again.

    Peace!!!

    Reply

  6. You are so right about the nose, hitting the nose with the heal of your hand in an upward strike can end the fight for ever.

    Thanks so much for all the help you give. I am 75 years old and need all your help. .this neighborhood has gone down hill

    Marshall

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  7. Thank you, Bob. I am a woman in my 80s and don’t feel safe anymore. I can see using this tip could really turn the tables fast. Thank you and God bless!

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  8. The nose is a great target, but most thugs do try and keep a high guard so other than the testicles, where else is a good high pain target? Until then I’ll keep using a heel palm to the snout.

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  9. The last time I started trying to talk a person out of a fight,,, he struck me in the base of my nose. Could not see a thing,, but he could and used it for the purpose of hitting me at will, and wherever. never again. Just below the chin, and just above the top of the chest, very good place for a grab, or a palm punch. Grab there and behind the head,, place them wherever u want. They cant fight, if they cant breath. Ear pops with cupped hands, and more

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  11. Thank you for all the information you so kindly give to people all the time.I am a retired army vet and many things you publish are new an d good learning for me.Keep up your good work

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  12. Thank you for the info. Have had nose hit by Door, and playing with grandkids thus tearing some what. Yes I believe its sensitive and will keep in mind. Thank you for the insight.

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  13. anatomically there’s is no such thing as a “nose bone”, if you look at a skull, you’ll see there’s no extension where a nose bone would extend from. Yes…it’s still a very sensitive and useful target

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  14. Fine advice but one better. Once I was attacked by a bully and I swung and accidentally struck him in the throat. I never forgot how he went down unable to take in air or exhale for several minutes. I thought he was going to die of suffocation. If it was a life or death situation I could’ve easily hit him there several more times and he surly would have expired.

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  15. Thanks for the reminder. I have used the nose in a fight and between the blood poring out a person eyes will some times water giving you a chance to get away. At 64 I really don’t like to fight like in my younger days. So if forced it has to be over quick.

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  18. Being that I was abused a lot as a child, I had to learn this pretty early on. It’s one target that isn’t blocked often by attackers, because they don’t want to risk blocking their own line of sight. A good quick knuckle jab (like a shortened uppercut) or a headbutt to the nose will quickly stun and/or temporarily disable almost any attacker. I’ve even dropped a few to their knees with it, because they blacked out almost instantly.

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  19. I’m thinking that way back when,like 1962, when I was in Marine Corps Boot Camp at PI, that we were taught the the Nose was one of the best target areas to attack. If fact, that if you hit the nose with the bottom of your hand in a hard upward motion, that you could drive the cartilage right up into the Brain and cause instant death. Is that a true or not? Just wondering.

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  20. As always your technique is simple and makes a lot of sense.

    Looking forward for the “Rest of the story”

    I find the posted comments by others most interesting.

    Thanks

    Reply

  22. want to learn all the fighting skills.I’m 63 and disable.Not only that I will pass it down to my 10 year old grandson because he gets pick on all the time because of his size.
    Thank you so much for sharing your skills with people like me.

    Reply

  23. I have a friend who had a gun pulled on him . what he did was crazy he shoved his finger’s in the guys nose and ripped it half off. True story he told him you ever put a f—–g gun in my face again you better pull the trigger. It is very diffinatly a vulnerable place.

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  24. I find a combination of stomping on the arch of the foot with all your weight (mine is 250lbs) and this makes them drop their hands and bend a little opening up the nose and throat for targets.

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  27. I hope I can avoid confrontation completely, but my wife’s ex-husband has confused my kindness for weakness and I’m afraid he’s going to get a rude awakening if he put his hands on my wife or me as he has a schnoz the size of a potato. Thanks for the info. Can’t wait for next weeks blog!

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  28. It does not take much of a hit on the nose to start the eyes watering and blurring the opponents vision; making you a harder target to hit.

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  29. The first time I ever took a blow to the nose was when my son was about 2. I had blown out my right knee & was laying on the couch. He walked up to me with a plastic hammer in his hand. What happened next was both funny and painful. He said “Daddy, you want a piece of me?”……….. I replied “no baby, daddy is hurt & I can’t get off the couch to play.” As soon as I got the words out of my mouth he smashed me in the nose with his hammer, started laughing & ran out of the living room. It was painful, but afterwards I had to laugh. I like the info in this form as it is easier to read & absorb it and keep it in mind. Thanks for all of your info you share with us. Keep it up.

    Reply

  30. During my training at the police academy our self defense instructor taught a bit about the nose. He was a sadistic SOB, but one hell of a cop.

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  32. Not to mention as the nose is injured it causes the eyes to tear up thereby impairing vision.

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  33. “Boy Scout, US Marine, Retired Police Officer, Retired Private Investigator, all around nice Guy.” I’ve always liked the Nose as a Target, but as I remember from Boot Camp at Parris Island back in 1962, you need to be a little cautious. We were taught that if you used the heel of your hand to shove the nose cartilage upward into the Brain, it could/would cause instant Death. At 71 years of age, I’m a little old for Prison. What’s your take on this?

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  34. I had forgot about the nose. When I was 17 I had a best friend, he weighed 250# I weighed 135# I would go to his house to box and would get torn up. Then 1 day I got him right between the eyes I really enjoyed pay backs. Wonderful memories. Thank you for all the great tips, please keep them coming 72yrs young.

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  35. I hadn’t forgotten about the nose, but your blog here reminded me about a few things. I’ve been instructing and advising my older grand-daughter about self-defense, and with the help of your blog/articles, you’ve made this alot easier to do. She and her younger brother and sister have been enrolled in a local self-defense course out and about here, and last year, with your help, I got 6-7 bullying girls off this grand-daughter, and they now avoid her like the plague!! SHe has a folder with my/your advice and information to review and ussse to advise the younger siblings on, and always has the option to ask me directly about details and items of interest. Thank you for you help and information, as it helps to pull this up out of the foggy attic and remind me how important it all is and can be.

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  36. I forgot about that. Back in 1974, I was teaching a blue belt some basic kung fu punches which i learned many years later as one of the essence of “sicky hands” (Tui Sao)
    One of the black belt in Shotokan, Hung, interrupted because he wanted to use the room. This was the only room and the only gym at Purdue. Hung was known in the
    karate circles on campus as having one of the “fastest hands” Hung said he black belt that he got his rank in Vietnam and asked my friend, Rick, the Chi Do Kwan blue belt, “to see’ what my friend knows. Rick threw a side kick. Hung evaded and threw the first punch to the face of Rick, twisted his waist, deflect the punch and with the same fist, the knuckles of the index and middle fingers connected Hung’s nose and began to bleed. He started yelling at Rick, telling him that he should be using his feet because he is a Tae Kwondo student. its amazing fast forward 40 years, simple effective techniques, I am embarrassed to say, I forgot. taking up Aikido is no excuse. Bob, THANK YOU, you have a wealth of knowledge on how to survive the streets that a lot of the martial arts school never teach. They teach tradition and ritual.

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  38. Having read some of the comments here, I agree the nose is a great target. A lot of pain receptors and does cause vision to blur. Do not think for a minute the cartilage of the nose can be driven into the brain. This is a myth. I once hit a fellow full on the nose with a home run swing of a baseball bat by accident. Wiped his nose off his face in a splatter of cartilage and massive spews of blood. Worried I could have killed him, I asked the doctor about driving the cartilage into the brain. The chances of this happening are about equal to being able to throw well cooked macaroni with enough force to penetrate the skin. Ask any EN&T doctor.

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  39. Yes you are right . Nose easy target and painful if hand strike quick and fast same to knee and front snap kicks and elbows and head hit to nose too. Thanks for reminding me I did forgot about the nose

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  40. From my expeience a unexpected shot to the nose is an excellent set up for finishing noves or escape. A backfist from a non threatening cross arm posture is effective. Obviously a palm heal strike will do the trick as well. follow up with strikes to incapacitate ( knee, eyes, neck, groin) or access a weapon.

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  43. Thank you! I forgot about this…maybe you could teach me how to get in close enough when you are only 5’2″ and 62.
    I just got slammed this week. God bless and thanks for doing this for us.

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  44. If you happen to have something hard in your hand, such as a pen or key, using it horizontally as the object with which you push the nose upward exacerbates the pain level. Thanks for the reminder!

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  45. I like to faint to the groin and grab hold of the ear, then use a hard elbow to the bridge of the nose. If they move your still going to catch an eye socket might even tear off their ear.

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  46. I am a big fan of blows to the nose, especially an upward palm hand blow. This induces watering eyes, blinding your attacker and tons of blood that generally scares the crap out of them and any others around that might feel the need to get involved. I start with trying to get a solid blow to the larynx, but if the attacker dips his chin it is quick and easy to change to a palm hand and target the nose.
    Just remember, do everything possible to avoid physical confrontation, EVERYTHING. But if you do have to defend yourself the longer a fight goes on the more chase of you getting injured. Put your opponent down as quickly and efficiently as possible.

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  47. Always keep a comb closely on hand, you can use the teeth of the comb to put pressure in an upward motion against the connecting tissue of the nostrils (the piece of skin between the nostrils) due to the sensitivity of the area, you can put someone on the ground in seconds.

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  49. I have arthritis in both hands. I try to work them to relieve stiffness but nothing seems to work well. I have seen MD’S but all they do is give me NSAID’s. I hope you have any ideas to help my problem so I can use these methods.
    THANKS

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  50. Don’t forget that you can also BITE an attacker’s nose (assuming that you let him get in that close). Talk about pain !!!

    Reply