Autonomic Heart Points

These three points are located directly over the heart and correlate with the most common location of bruises when commotio cordis occurs. Commotio cordis is translated from Latin to mean heart concussion. It is usually caused by a relatively low energy blow to the chest directly over the heart silhouette. Commotio cordis is almost always fatal, even when CPR is initiated by trained bystanders including physicians. Recent medical science has elucidated the mechanism behind this mystery and has found that it is related to the location of impact, the force of impact, and the timing of the cardiac cycle. This phenomenon has been reported to occur during baseball games, hockey games, and assaults. It is interesting that lethal dim mak points directly correlate with bruises found on the victims of commotio cordis. These points have been named the autonomic heart points because they can be set up to cause different effects by both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Check back for the upcoming article on commotio cordis.