How to defend yourself against a knife attack krav maga
There has been a sudden spike in the number of stabbing deaths in the recent years, especially from peoples between the age group of 15 – 24. Guns are responsible for 36% of murder in the US while knife attacks accounts for 10% of homicide. In Europe, knife attacks partake in 43% of fatalities.
Regardless to say, it’s very easy to own a knife than a gun. Even a kitchen knife can kill a person when used as a weapon.
You can encounter a knife attack at any point in time – therefore learning how to survive in the hands of a knife-wielding mugger could save your life one day.
A puncture to the major artery such as the femoral artery, the brachial artery and the carotid artery could lead to a severe blood loss and eventually death. You should at least have the basic wits to stop the bleeding, disarm your attacker or even use his/her reaction against them.
We’ve compiled these circumvention tactics from self defense experts and martial artist. Therefore, read on with an optimistic idea of surviving the worst.
Self defense against knife attacks
In this section will be exploring the ins and outs on how to survive a knife attack. Some prepper site might just say do this or don’t do that but their guidelines tends to oversimplify the reality of knife attacks. But that’s not the case here because we don’t only offer suggestions rather we combine them with the reality of knife attacks.
Surviving a knife attack
Have you ever think of how to defend yourself against an attacker with a knife, or how to survive a knife attack or more definitely – how to defend yourself against a knife attack. Obviously you would hear or read things like “run”. Don’t be their in the first place!” You have to be in a yellow condition” or just get a gun.
However, in some countries – guns are blacklisted and there are some penalties to pay if you break the chain. In this case, the best course of action to implement is an approved self defense techniques.
Regarding to self defense against knife attacks, we have compiled this section to expedite your chances of having victory over an assailant. Your obligation now is to dedicate a few minutes to scan this blog thoroughly. We guarantee your safety in advance!
First and foremost, let’s take a look on the conceptual secrecy behind how to survive a knife attack, then we will discuss about defending yourself in case of a knife attack.
Stab wound treatment – First Aid
The most critical thing about knife attack is that most victims don’t realize that they have been stabbed until they see bleeding. Bleeding might be internal at first before soaking the whole cloth. Self defense experts and martial artists admonished on the need to check and examine the whole body properly after an Violence. This is because you won’t even notice that you’ve been stabbed until you loose the peanut.
One clever lesson can be stockpiled from the assassination of Empress Elizabeth of Australia on the 10th of September 1893. Here’s an in-depth story about the incident.
Quite possibly the most well known case was the death of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. On Saturday 10 September 1898, she was wounded by Italian revolutionary Luigi Lucheni.
As indicated by witnesses, Lucheni appeared to be clumsy and made a movement with his hand as though he needed to keep up with his equilibrium. Actually, he had wounded the Empress with a 100 mm blunt edge object.
Despite the fact that she fell after Luchini struck her, Elisabeth was helped on her feet and managed to walk a 100 meters to the boat she had intended to board. As she becomes semiconscious again, her girdle was cup open so she could breath (tight undergarments were a typical reason for swooning at that point).
Her court woman then, at that point, saw a little earthy colored stain over Elisabeth’s left breast. The Empress was hurried to the clinic where she kicked the bucket 30 mins later.
You can infer from the story above that Awarenesses is the key factor in surviving a Knife attack. Therefore, you ought to make Awarenesses a Priority after Violence. The best thing is to avoid it at all. Anyway, what are the best practices worth utilizing inorder to survive been stabbed?
How to survive been stabbed or slashed
If unfortunately, it happens that you’re one of the Victims in a near violence attack, these are the things you should do to make it out alive.
- Put pressure on the wound,
- Call the Emergency immediately (UK: 999, US: 911)
- Keep pressure directly on the wound until their interference.
Wounds to the limbs: Ensure that the wound is above the level of the heart to minimize blood haemorrhage.
It’s super likely for victims (of knife attacks and other blunt edge object) to die of bleeding especially when the major blood vessels such as the Femoral artery, the Brachial artery or the Carotid artery get severed.
Medical experts recommends putting pressure directly on the main artery leading to the wounded area at all times. This might reduce or even cease blood loss.
Ironically, if the stabbing object is still or jammed in the wound – don’t try removing it, as it could cause excessive blood loss. Kindly, apply pressure gently on the affected area and wait for emergency assistance.
Note: Anyone who has been stabbed needs immediate attention. The shock or force of the attack could make the victim unconscious, consequently it’s critically important to lay the victim down before further assistance. This is also applicable to blood loss, they could render the victim semiconscious or even flimsy.
Main artery bleeding
Now listen attentively, if your femoral artery was severed, bleeding will be heavy at first. Then after losing 1/3 volume of your blood which can take between 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on some number of factors such as your built, blood pressure and the depth of the cut. You would pass out in a room of low blood pressure and eventually die.
At that point, the rate of bleeding would drop significantly. Then, in the next 1-3 minutes – You would experience an irreversible shock (exsanguination) due to immense blood loss.
But I wanna tell you something substantial, if one of your major blood vessels get punctured – do not panic rather keep pressure on the wound at all times. Additionally, don’t ever try removing the stabbing object as this could bring about huge blood loss.
Incase of punctured wound to the chest, you have to keep air away from entering into the wound as it could lead to the collapse of the lung a.k.a pneumothorax.
Pneumothorax happens when air occupies the Pleural cavity (a space between the lung and the chest wall), this build up of air would hinder the lung to expand normally as it fully does when you breath in – causing a blockage we identified as Pneumothorax.
This can also happen when air is leaking from the Lung into the Pleural space, so you might also need to let air out of the wound while also preventing air from entering it.
Avoidance and situation awareness
Before thinking of having victory over an assailant – one needs to anticipate the encounter prior to the attack.
The common heard piece of advice is to refrain from dodgy people’s and dodgy places. Don’t go there in the first place. Avoid things that could bring anguish in the future. Be tolerant and don’t engage or guage a fight. Remember, a play can be escalated to real violence and there’s no way to stop it. Just avoid things like you do to your own avoidance.
Although attackers don’t necessarily comes for the victim, they might come for the money, cars or other luggages.
Knife attacks are peculiar in the shop where the Assailant has more control over their target. This is why it’s critically important to develop a sense of Situational Awarenesses as well as Peripheral vision to best survive in case the worst happen.
But, you can’t be 100% alerted at all times. Despite your concentration and readiness, you may not ascertain an impending violence.
Here are certain body languages that could drastically reveal an upcoming violence. This leads us down to Knife awareness.
Knife awareness
If someone is walking towards you with their arms behind their back, it should be so pathetic to remind you their intention. In the same term, if you have trouble with someone – try to resolve the case before it get extended to the next level.
You should assume that an aggressor is with a weapon (a screw driver, a harmer or a knife) by paying attention to their body languages below
- He checks the entrance door a lot
- He kept his right hand in his pocket at all times
- And his body is always bladed as if he wanted to keep the weapon away.
If the person approaching you is wandering around like a fool – you shouldn’t guarantee your safety in a close vicinity. Try to maintain a distance of 21feet, say self defense experts.
Here’s a concise analogy
Escaping
If the person keeps on chasing you – the crucial option is to find ways to outrun the attacker. Running is the best thing to implement even if you’re strong because you don’t know what might happen next. Additionally, you’ve more chances of survival by running than attacking back.
You can take inspirations from the footage underneath where the Aggressor escaped after losing his blade to his target
But what if there is no exit or it’s blocked, what should you do? It depends on the situation concerned. If the Aggressor is predetermined to punch you, you won’t have much time for de-escalation or even running.
Most knife attacks are ambushes mainly between 3 ft. of their victims. 3 feet is too close obviously and you won’t have time to figure out what’s happening! Here, the defense techniques comes to play…
Yes, you can’t be always present-minded, sometimes you might be preoccupied and can’t ascertain what’s happening in the environment.
According to a vlog published by Scott Babb (an illustrious member of the Libre fighting group ) after a rigorous experiment on knife attacks portrays that
- Attacks most commonly happen in a semi-closed environment
- within 3ft. of the victim
- Aggressors don’t deploy the knife beforehand
- Aggressors lunge on their victims with free hands
- the stabbing rate is 1-2 thrust per seconds (5-7 times per 5 seconds)
- most damage is inflicted to the left side of the victims (lungs, abdomen, throat)
Regarding to Babb conclusive remarks, the most practical ways to survive knife attacks is to prioritize escaping and running away.
Statistically, people get most of their injuries when they decide to fight back than compared to running away.
But, Babb’s theory has some exceptions – sometimes actions may adjust with the surrounding environment. So, it’s recommended to brainstorm for the best tactics that’s worth implementing, this is dependent on the situation or severity of the apocalypse.
Generally, to survive an ambush within 3 ft. – You would have to attack back with the prospect of escaping when the aggressor is down.
If there’s no space to run or attacking back – de-escalating the issue might be the only solution.
Compliance & De-escalation
Your phone or other material objects can determine your position between life and death. You can exchange these things with your life because a mugger can lunge at you if you didn’t comply in a short period of time.
If the person is acting aggressively towards you – try to de-escalate the issue in any possible means. Let the aggressor be aware that you are not in a condition to fight or argue with someone.
Unfortunately, there are certain times when compliance and de-escalation can go wrong as seen in the footage below
Aggressors are often intoxicated, so they might still hit even if there’s compliance. The young guy in the footage above complied swiftly but the thieve still assaulted him. The accomplice is in the car waiting whilst the car is left open and on. These signs represents an impending danger – so, you have to dash away from such scenarios.
Regarding the footage, it’s advised to either comply or fight back (fighting back would mean that they would flee because their time is limited).
However, you should always expect the worst if you decide to attack back. Fortunately, here are step by step tutorial on how to defend yourself against a knife attack krav maga
Disarm and defend Krav maga
In this section, we will look out ways to best disarm and defend our dear lives. These are what martial artists and self defense experts recommends to adopt in case of a knife attack
Protect your left side
Most injuries sustained by knife attacks are often inflicted at the left side of the victims, the right side are seldomly wounded because a strike would intuitively go to the left side.
To better protect yourself from stabs, you must follow this steps, says self defense experts. We recommend watching this video below to get the ins and outs.
- Bend your left hand at 120 degrees (this serves as as an obstacle between you and the stabbing objects)
- Raise the bent hand upwards and farther from you (this is necessary to generate more space between you and the knife
- Anticipate more stabs per stab (you shouldn’t relax after a strike because others are underway)
- Extend the bent hand to cease the strike completely
- Rotate and twist the assailant’s hand
- Then, smack his groin to disarm him (a punch, and other alternatives would still go if he’s not a male person 👊)
- You’ve successfully completed the disarm process
- But don’t do something stupid unless the assailant is deploying another weapon.
This knife defense techniques is called the “Overhand stab” or the “Ice pick” techniques in krav maga.
Yes, I once said that you’ve successfully completed the disarming process but this steps is only effective if the aggressor attacks only 1 time. In reality, the aggressor might throw 20 stabs in a row. Here are tips to survive it
- Follow the same steps we discussed previously
- But in this scenario – You don’t have to recoil your arm when you block the stab (you must keep it in that position as a block and hit him with the other hand a fewer times)
- Move the bent hands farther to stop the strike
- Then, Grab his wrist and disarm him
Make sure you watch the video above for a better understanding. You can also imbibe a lot of skills from the Kungfu knife defense techniques, Taekwondo and many others below. Your obligation is just a spare time to view the videos below.
Karate self defense against knife attacks
Taekwondo Self defense against knife attacks
Aikido self defense against knife attacks
Brazilian jiu-jitsu – Self defense against knife attacks
JJJ Self defense against knife attacks
That’s wraps it up for the topic – how to defend yourself against a knife attack krav maga
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