Chokehold

"Stranglehold" redirects here. For other uses, see Stranglehold (disambiguation).
For the punk band, see Chokehold (band). For the NCIS episode, see "Choke Hold". For the song by Sleep Token, see Take Me Back to Eden.
Chokehold
A man in fatigues rises his hand while another man in a black t-shirt holds his neck from behind with an arm to his neck and another to the back of his head. In the background men and women in fatigues observe.
Rear naked choke between two US soldiers.
StyleBrazilian jiu-jitsu, judo, sambo
AKAChoke, stranglehold, shime-waza

A chokehold, choke, stranglehold or, in Judo, shime-waza (Japanese: 絞技, lit. 'constriction technique')[1] is a general term for a grappling hold that critically reduces or prevents either air (choking)[2] or blood (strangling) from passing through the neck of an opponent. The restriction may be of one or both and depends on the hold used and the reaction of the victim. While the time it takes for the choke to render an opponent unconscious varies depending on the type of choke, the average across all has been recorded as 9 seconds.[3]

The lack of blood or air often leads to unconsciousness or even death if the hold is maintained. Chokeholds are used in martial arts, combat sports, self-defense, law enforcement and in military hand to hand combat applications. They are considered superior to brute-force manual strangling, which generally requires a large disparity in physical strength to be effective.[4] Rather than using the fingers or arms to attempt to crush the neck, chokeholds effectively use leverage such as figure-four holds or collar holds that use the clothes to assist in the constriction.

The terminology used varies; in most martial arts, the term "chokehold" or "choke" is used for all types of grappling holds that strangle. This can be misleading as most holds aim to strangle not choke with the exception of "air chokes" (choking means "to have severe difficulty in breathing because of a constricted or obstructed throat or a lack of air"[2]). In Judo terminology, "blood chokes" are referred to as "strangleholds" or "strangles" while "air chokes" are called "chokeholds" or "chokes".[1] In forensics, the terms "strangle" and "stranglehold" designate any type of neck compression,[4] while in law-enforcement they are referred to as "neck holds".[5]

  1. ^ a b Ohlenkamp, Neil. "Principles of Judo Choking Techniques". judoinfo.com. Retrieved March 3, 2006.
  2. ^ a b The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1999). Oxford University press. ISBN 0-19-861263-X.
  3. ^ "Scientists Confirm Which Chokes Put People to Sleep the Fastest". 31 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b Jones, Richard. Asphyxia Archived 2006-02-26 at the Wayback Machine, Strangulation Archived 2006-04-30 at the Wayback Machine. www.forensicmed.co.uk. URL last accessed February 26, 2006.
  5. ^ Reay, Donald; Eisele, John. Death from law enforcement neck holds. www.charlydmiller.com.URL last accessed March 3, 2006