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Spock using the Vulcan nerve pinch on a doomed redshirt

In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Vulcan nerve pinch is a technique used mainly by Vulcans to render unconsciousness by pinching a pressure point at the base of the victim’s neck with all four fingers opposing the thumb. Although usually used on humanoid beings, in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Spock successfully uses the nerve pinch on a horse-like creature.

Origin and use

Leonard Nimoy, who portrayed the Vulcan science officer Spock, conceived the maneuver in the early days of the original Star Trek series.^[1] The script for “The Enemy Within” stated that Spock "kayoes" Captain Kirk’s duplicate,^[2] but Nimoy felt that such an action would be undignified for a Vulcan — he therefore invented an alternative. In Star Trek’s scripts, the pinch is referred to as the FSNP, for Famous Spock Nerve Pinch.

Since Spock, various other characters in the Star Trek spin-offs use the technique, including non-Vulcans. The first non-Vulcan was Khan Noonien Singh,^[3] later followed by others such as the android Data,^[4] the Changeling Odo,^[5] Voyager’s holographic Doctor,^[6] and the humans Jean-Luc Picard,^[7] Seven of Nine,^[8] and Jonathan Archer^[9] (though Archer was carrying the katra of the ancient Vulcan Surak at the time). In Carpenter Street, T'Pol uses the nerve pinch on the kidnapper Loomis to stop him escaping from his apartment, and again later in the episode. She also uses it in the 4th episode of the first season on Travis Mayweather to calm him down.

Some humans, however, have been unable to use the nerve pinch. Spock once commented that he tried but failed to teach it to James T. Kirk.^[10] Likewise, when Dr. McCoy was in possession of Spock’s katra, he was unable to use the nerve pinch.

The nerve pinch has been used on Vulcans and the vulcanoid Romulans several times, showing that neither race is immune to the technique.^[4][6][8][9]

References to the nerve pinch outside of Star Trek often show characters attempting the nerve pinch while placing their hands in the position of the Vulcan Salute. However, observation of Spock in the episodes reveals that the nerve pinch is not done with the same hand position as the salute.

Physiology

Over the years, fans and Expanded Universe writers have made a number of suggestions as to how it works.

The book The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry offers a simple explanation: the pinch blocks blood and nerve responses from reaching the brain, leading to unconsciousness. How this might lead to instantaneous unconsciousness is not explained. (Preventing all blood flow to the brain can result in unconsciousness, but many seconds later.) In this earliest of Star Trek reference books, the pinch is referred to as the “Spock Pinch.”^[11]

Another conjecture is that it can be done by applying strong and surgically precise pressure over baroreceptors of the carotid sinus at the base of the humanoid neck. The objective would be to elicit the baroreceptor reflex as the receptors detect an apparent high pressure state due to the externally applied force and causes reflex bradycardia and/or hypotension, leading to decreased blood supply to the brain and syncope.

A third conjecture is paranormal rather than medical: because of Vulcans’ telepathic nature and incredible control over their own bodies, they are able to send a burst of neural energy into another being and overload its nervous system, rendering it unconscious, although the pinch does not work on all species (Or all humans such as Gary Seven). This was supported by the fact that Dr. McCoy could not use it in Star Trek III, but it has been rendered moot by the fact that many non-telepathic characters have used it in modern incarnations of Trek such as Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek Enterprise, as well as Lieutenant Commander Data, who is an android.

The canonical mechanism of the nerve pinch was finally offered in the episode "Cathexis" of Star Trek: Voyager. There, the Doctor inspects a crewmember who was found unconscious and observes an extreme trauma to the trapezius neck bundle, "as though her nerve fibers have been ruptured"; and it is later revealed that the person was the victim of a nerve pinch.

Death grip

The Star Trek episode “The Enterprise Incident” includes a scene in which Spock administers the so-called "Vulcan death grip" to Kirk to convince Romulan onlookers, apparently unfamiliar with Vulcan techniques, that Kirk had been killed. In fact, Spock had merely used a particularly powerful nerve pinch to put Kirk into a deep unconsciousness that closely resembled death. Kirk awoke a short time later with head and neck pain but no lasting injury. The "death grip" differs from the "nerve pinch" on that the nerve pinch is administered to the neck area and the death grip was administered to Kirk's face; the palm directly over the nose and the fingers spread out over the rest of the face. This also differs from the "Vulcan mind meld" grip which is administered to only one side of the face.

Reality

The maneuver, as performed in the various Star Trek visual media, would not have the intended effect in reality. Simply pinching a portion of a person's neck in such a manner can be painful, but it will not result in unconsciousness.

An effect similar to the Vulcan nerve pinch can occur in real-life through either internal or external stimulation of the vagus nerve (e.g. by vomiting or a physical hit, respectively). By application of pressure to the nerve, it is possible to lose consciousness. It is an in-field treatment for people who experience tachycardia and several other cardiac problems - stimulating the nerve by massage or certain movement or internal pressure build-up (Valsalva maneuver) decreases pulse frequency and corrects certain cardiac arrythmias. However, in people with cardiac dysfunction, violent hits to the vagus nerve can cause cardiac arrest.

Other references

• In the movie You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Adam Sandler uses the grip to knock out a crying boy.
• On the song "Guerilla Monsoon Rap" on Talib Kweli's 2002 album "Quality", rapper Black Thought raps the line "I hit these emcees with the grip of death like I was a Vulcan"
• In an episode of the TV series Soap, Jodie Dallas (played by Billy Crystal) used the nerve pinch successfully, to his surprise, in a confrontation with several fighters at a martial arts studio.
• Scott Adams has been known to mention to the nerve pinch in his comic strip Dilbert, where he often (intentionally) refers to it incorrectly as the Vulcan death grip.
• Page 140 of the webcomic Erfworld displays a character resembling Mr. Spock using the pinch on Parson, the main character
• Xena on the series Xena: Warrior Princess has a lethal Death Pinch. (This gives the victim 30 seconds to live unless the counter-strike is applied.)
• The Beastie Boys’ song “Intergalactic” says the listener’s “knees’ll start shaking and your fingers pop / Like a pinch on the neck from Mr. Spock.”
• On an episode of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Kwai Chang Caine uses the “Vulcan Nerve Punch” to defeat several enemies.
• In the Mel Brooks comedy Spaceballs, Lone Starr (played by Bill Pullman) attempts to knock out a Spaceball guard using the technique, prompting the following dialogue:

Guard: What the hell are you doing?

Lone Starr: Uh… the Vulcan Neck Pinch?

Guard: No, no, stupid. You’ve got it much too high. It’s down here where the shoulder meets the neck.

Lone Starr: Like this?

Guard: Yeah! (faints)

• In the film Look Who’s Talking Now, Kirstie Alley’s character loses her job and takes a temp job playing an elf in Santa’s Workshop in a mall. A bratty child asks scornfully if she is an elf. She replies “No, I’m a Vulcan. How would you like a little death grip?” in reference to Alley’s role as Lieutenant Saavik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
• In the Kevin Smith film Mallrats, Smith's Silent Bob character performs the neck pinch using both hands, effectively knocking out two mall security guards. Jason Lee's Brodie Bruce character remarks "Vulcan nerve pinch?", to which Silent Bob nods.
• Pulp hero Doc Savage uses a similar technique.
• “Vulcan nerve pinch” is also hacker slang for a keyboard combination used to reboot or otherwise interrupt a computer. A common example of this is Control-Alt-Delete for IBM PC compatible computers (see also three-finger salute).
• The book The Action Hero’s Handbook gives instructions for performing a nerve pinch.
• In The Simpsons episode “Mayored to the Mob,” Homer uses the Vulcan Nerve Pinch (or, as Marge thinks, a sleeper hold) to knock out his children. He is then scolded by Marge and promptly repeats the technique on her also. Realizing there is 30 minutes left until supper he applies it to himself.
• In the Futurama episode “Where No Fan Has Gone Before,” the Planet Express crew are forced into a fight to the death with the cast of the original series. When Nimoy is fighting Bender, he tries to “see if this actually works” and attempts one on Bender, which could never work, since he is a robot.
• In the video game Space Quest 6, The Vulger Neck Pinch uses the same placement of the fingers, but requires the person to also speak lines from Tango and Cash or Hudson Hawk, the combination of the pinch and dialogue from the two movies causing neural overload. Roger Wilco uses this to incapacitate a guard so that he can steal a shuttle.
• In the Cartoon Network animated series Codename: Kids Next Door, the character Kuki Sanban attempted to use the Vulcan nerve pinch unsuccessfully in one episode.
• In the story, Savage Shadow, written by The Shadow’s creator Maxwell Grant the character Doc Fauve (which is French for Savage) in a drunken haze applies the nerve pinch to his newfound pal, writer Kenneth Robeson.
• In the pilot episode of Heroes (“Genesis”), after Hiro Nakamura makes the claim that he is able to bend space and time, making references to Spock and Star Trek, and is dragged back to his cubicle by his manager, his friend Ando Masahashi shouts to him that he should use his “death grip.”
• In The Amanda Show, Penelope Taynt more often than not uses the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on those who see her.
• In another Dan Schneider program, Zoey 101, Quinn Pensky often pinches people's elbows to knock them out.
• In an episode of A Different World, Sinbad’s character Walter Oakes used the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on two dangerous cocaine dealers after the gang accidentally discovered their stash during a Spring Break vacation in Miami just in the nick of time and, a little later on, to silence a talkative Whitley Gilbert.
• In the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode “Freak Show,” Commander Andy (Andy Merrill) tells Space Ghost, “If I was in the same room with you right now I would give you the Vulcan Nerve Pinch and knock you out.”
• In the non-canon Star Trek/X-Men crossover by Marvel Comics Spock used the nerve pinch on Wolverine. Wolverine surprised Spock by almost immediately recovering due to his healing factor.
• In an episode of My Name Is Earl, "Early Release", Darnell uses a Vulcan nerve pinch to incapacitate a prison guard while assisting Earl in an escape attempt.
• In Police Academy 5, Nick Lassard places his hand on a perp's shoulder, who promptly faints. Officer Conklin and Sgt. Jones are dumbfounded by this, after which Lassard gives the Vulcan salute and shows an empty syringe on his other hand.
• In the novelization of X-Men: The Last Stand, the character Kitty Pryde uses the Vulcan nerve pinch to defeat three attackers in the final battle at Alcatraz.
• In an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Jazz referenced the "volcan Death Grip" while trying to calm down Carlton.
• In an episode of the Disney Channel cartoon hit Phineas and Ferb, Ferb was threatened by Buford and nonchalantly pinched his neck, knocking him out.
• In the Totally Spies! episode "Evil Heiress Much?", Clover used the Vulcan Nerve Pinch to knock down an 'enemy'.
• In a Season 1 episode of The O.C. while Seth attempts to massage Summer's neck she cries out, "Ow, what's up with the Vulcan Nerve Pinch?"
• In the Stephen King novella The Langoliers, airplane passenger Nick Hopewell threatens to incapacitate the psychotic Craig Toomey with what he refers to as the "Vulcan sleeper hold."
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, during the episode "Homecoming", Cordelia Chase states (to get more votes) that she's been practicing The Vulcan Death Grip since she was a kid.
• In the video for Eminem's song "We Made You" Eminem, masquerading as Spock, is seen using the vulcan nerve pinch.
• In the comedy sci-fi series Red Dwarf, Kryten once attempts to convince Rimmer he can painlessly render him unconscious using the 'Ionian nerve grip.' After gripping Rimmer's shoulder in a manner similar to the neck pinch, he then smashes a vase over Rimmer's head. When the angry (still conscious) Rimmer points this out, Kryten exclaims "there's no such thing as an 'Ionian nerve grip'!"

References

External links

• Vulcan nerve pinch at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)