Putting It To Rest

I was working security Saturday night and talking with a customer while we had them waiting at the door. He knew I'd been involved in martial arts and asked me if it was true you could hit someone in the nose and drive their nose bone into their brain. Whaaaaa???!!!

Is that one still really floating around? I thought it went out with having to tell people you're a black belt before you hit them and registering your hands with the police as deadly weapons. Apparently not.

So, if you happen to know anyone who still thinks that it's true - or if you think so yourself - here's the deal. NO...YOU CAN'T!

See the big hole where the nose would be? There is no bone! It's normally a piece of cartilage and that's it. Note also how far it is from the brain.

The only thing I'm aware of that could even come close would be someone immensely big, hitting someone very tiny and breaking a small piece of the bone at the top of the nose area and driving a sliver into what is called the cribiform plate. This could, in theory, allow mucus into the brain cavity which could lead to a bacterial infection provided the victim couldn't get to a hospital in 24 hours. But if someone that big is hitting someone that small, I think you've got other things to worry about.

So please, spread the word and lets put that old chestnut to bed.