Stress position

Captured Viet Cong soldier, blindfolded and tied in a stress position by ARVN during the Vietnam War, 1967

A stress position, also known as a submission position, places the human body in such a way that a great amount of weight is placed on very few muscles. For example, a subject may be forced to stand on the balls of their feet, then squat so that their thighs are parallel to the ground. This creates an intense amount of pressure on the legs, leading first to pain and then muscle failure.

Forcing prisoners to adopt such positions is a torture technique that proponents claim leads to extracting information from the person being tortured.[1]

  1. ^ Graham, Bradley (2004-05-15). "New Limits On Tactics At Prisons". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 11, 2014.