Hi, Omega,
Welcome among us!
It's true that pain will be lessened or anihilated by the "combat high", but pain and damage are two very different things. If your punch breaks your wrist or your knuckles (which is likely enough if you aren't properly trained and/or conditioned), pain or not, you're no longer able to deliver any effective strike with the damaged hand. No good...

Cupped hands as opposed to tight fists are preferable in my opinion. One certainly needs his fingers free to grapple.

I agree that the palm heel is a brilliant technique for head strikes but I'd like to try and dispell the idea that correctly applied punch = broken hand.

For many years boxing was practised bare knuckled with relatively fewer broken hands than today. The problem is that with the advent of gloved boxing, punching style has changed and the structure of punches is incorrect for bare knuckled boxing.

Look up "London Prize Ring Rules" boxing for more information. (Grappling moves were also used in boxing back then)
http://www.savateaustralia.com/Savate%20Essays/Bare-Knuckles%20to%20Modern%20Boxing.htm http://www.answers.com/topic/boxing http://library.thinkquest.org/3369/boxing/about.htm http://www.hotboxingnews.com/1899_-_pre.htm

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tkdstreetfighter88:
I have never used a palm strike in combat before with the exception of one to the solar plexus.

In my school we are taught about the plam strike to the solar plexus to drop an opponent. We are also taught to strike the nose with one for fatal results.(Not getting into the debate of the nose bone in the brain thing, my instructor claims he seen people killed by a plam to the nose in WW2. But thats not my question)

My question is if you use a palm to the chin can you sanp someones neck or not? I have heard people tell me that a plam can throw someone off balance and maybe ko them, i have heard that a palm to the chin can snap the neck crippling your opponent or killing them. What is true?

Also if you use a palm upside the jaw or to the eye socket can you ko some as if you used a punch?Also does it leave a noticeable mark like a punch does.

I just know that a palm is more powerful and less painful for you by using it on combos to the punching bag.

[/QUOTE]

the controversy of the palm to nose is that some say a bone shoots through the brain, this is not what happens. there is no bone in the nose, what happens is that the blow causes the brain to hemorrhage which puts pressure on the brain, causing the person to die.
it is possible to snap the neck with teh palm to chin, but the blow has to be very forceful.
you dont want to use a fist in a fight because it is easily broken. use the palm, it is just as effective. if you dont believe me think about this, if you had to strike a brick wall as hard as you could, would you use your knuckles or your palm

Brick walls have more inertia than the human head. The purpose of the punch is not to shatter the material (bone) but to wobble the brain causing a KO. I do agree that the palm heel is better for head strikes but that doesn't mean that you should discount the normal fist. (Historically the technique was there to make the punch without damaging the hand)

I agree with whoever said apply hard to soft and soft to hard. Use the right tool for the right job.