The Techniques of the Headbutt as an Element of Surprise in Self-Defense

It's somewhat of a shame that Kiefer Sutherland exposed the effectiveness and dangerousness of the headbutt in May of this year during one of his violent run-ins using self-defense (or perhaps Brooke Shields defense). While he used a headbutt against a reportedly aggressive fashion designer in a way that isn't usually recommended, Sutherland inadvertently managed to bring this self-defense technique back into the spotlight when it's sometimes used as a defensive surprise as you deal with someone trying to attack you. Considering fists are usually used first as a method of knocking someone down who's either trying to physically hurt you or someone else, the headbutt is still looked at as instigating severer damage. Many people who try it, though, end up hurting themselves physically...concurrently with getting into legal trouble as Sutherland did.

Of course, we all know headbutts as being used more often in sports where you can count endless examples of illegal uses in soccer or European football. In Scotland, it's still inexplicably used as a form of friendship. But it never stops being used in self-defense for the simple reason of a headbutt being more painful than anything you can do with a fist and without having access to a blunt object. Nevertheless, people who deliberately try to hurt another person with their own bare hands are the ones asking for some kind of retaliation in return, even though they usually expect the defender to use the same defense methods in return.

Most self-defense experts say, however, that the headbutt is always in the mind of an aggressor and will be prepared for it coming their way.

What does that mean then when there's an element of surprise to it? Well, as with all self-defense techniques, it's all in how you implement it that makes the difference in the outcome. For those not trained right in headbutting, you may just have the embarrassment of hurting yourself while fighting back with someone. That only compounds when your attacker ends up doing another headbutt back at you in the right way to add even more physical pain to your misguided effort.

The true secret to headbutting is in mental preparation just as much as physical preparation. Because headbutts are usually implemented in matters of a few seconds and done almost by reflex, it's recommended you keep in mind at all times to clench your teeth before lunging forward. It's also wise to keep in mind that your head needs to be tilted slightly down before implementing the headbutt for the simple reason of preventing you busting those teeth you have clenched above. Stiffening the muscles in behind your neck is additionally essential as a combination of your physical and mental preparation.

For more serious mental preparation, many self-defense experts say that you should place all your focus toward the area just above your eyebrows as the center of where your impact will be. If you want, call that a slightly spiritual way of centering energy to a part of your body where self-defense can become more effective. We certainly see enough suggestions of that in martial arts, and the European-created headbutt is no different.

With this type of concentration (and doing a suggested grimace on your face to focus that energy)--you have a powerful self-defense tool on your own person. Now, you just have to aim in the right place on your attacker's face without things going horribly awry.
____

The biggest mistake made with headbutts is in hitting your attacker in the same place you're centering your energy for impact. You and your attacker aren't rams butting heads--as much as it could be considered that metaphorically. Instead, it's best to aim for the nose on your attacker's face rather than hitting the person's forehead area. Yes, it probably would cause some pain on the attacker if you hit the person there, though the softer tissue of the nose is where the pain will make a true difference in intensity. When you want to prevent an attacker from doing anything else other than writhing on the ground in pain, hitting the nose and the crotch area are obviously the best places to make that happen.

And, no, there's never been any suggestion of headbutting into a crotch area. If the attacker is male (which is, sorry to my fellow gender, probably 99% of the time), jabbing a knee into that area is obviously the logical way. Once you manage to hit your attacker in the nose with your quick-thinking headbutt, the pain will most definitely be intense enough to make that person fall to the ground. The only reason that wouldn't happen is if the attacker is a hard-boiled former Marine who can withstand an anvil falling on his head.

If your attacker might be expecting a headbutt from you, just where does the surprise element come in then? The general consensus is that faking the move of a sneeze makes the best kind of unexpected headbutt. In the middle of a fight, that might seem to be expected. For a situation similar to the one Kiefer Sutherland found himself in, using that method would be the most apropos, if riskier for the reasons of instigating the fight rather than returning a blow to someone who attacked you first.

Over-intellectualizing a fight using this technique might not be the smartest when it usually goes by reflex. Yet fast thinking and quick, effective movements of the body in self-defense is the height of developing the intellect. A headbutt may be cruder, but deciding to do it and doing it effectively places it right up there with the best in Asian martial arts...

Source:

http://www.hubbardtwppd.org/selfdefense/headbutt.htm