Spinal lock

The can opener (in Judo referred to as kubi-hishigi) is a hyperflexing neck crank that can be applied from the opponent's guard or from a mounted position, by grabbing the opponent's head using the hands, and forcing it towards the chest of the opponent. If applied effectively in a competition it may force the opponent to submit.

This may also refer to a type of neck compression employed from a rear mount position in which the back of the thumbs are used to drive into the neck starting from the high trapezius muscle toward the sternocleidomastoid muscles, causing severe discomfort, and even submission. As of 2006, this is permitted in shiai as long as the judoka's thumbs remain straight, and not bent. Its most common uses are to open up an opponent's chin for shime-waza or as a diversionary tactic.

The cattle catch (also referred to as reverse crucifix, iron cross or stocks) is a hyperflexing neck crank involving trapping the opponent's hands and forcing the head towards his or her chest. The technique is performed with the opponent lying on his or her back, and the combatant performing the neck crank perpendicularly face-down in a side mount position above the head of the opponent, with the opponent's head resting towards his armpit. The combatant traps one arm using the legs, and the other using the arms. By using the pinned arms and legs as a point of leverage, the combatant can forcefully crank the head towards the opponent's chest.

The crucifix neck crank is similar to the cattle catch, but involves the combatant performing the neck crank being mounted on the opponent. Both of the opponent's arms are controlled, and the opponent's head is held in the armpit. By cranking the body upwards while keeping a tight hold on the opponents arms, the opponents head is forced towards his or her chest.

Both the cattle catch and the crucifix neck crank are colloquially referred to simply as the crucifix, which often leads to confusion with the traditional crucifix position.

The twister (a similar move in wrestling is known as a guillotine) is a sideways body bend and neck crank, which involves forcing the head towards the shoulder while controlling the body, hence causing lateral hyperflexion of the cervical spine. The technique involves tension in several body parts, and depending on the flexibility of the recipient, can also involve pain in the knees, abdominals and torso. The twister is often confused as being a spine crank since it involves a degree of lateral non-cervical spinal flexion. The main pressure is however on the cervical spine, hence making it a neck crank. It is performed from a back mount single vine ride position, where the top man has one "hook" threaded through the bottom man's legs and secured behind the ankle. The top man then pulls the bottom man's opposite arm behind his own head and grabs hold of his opponent's head, pulling it down to his shoulder. Popularized by Eddie Bravo and the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu system.[8] On March 26, 2011 Chan Sung Jung finished Leonard Garcia at UFC Fight Night: Seattle in round 2 of their fight using a twister, the first, and was the only twister finish in UFC history until Bryce Mitchell defeated Matt Sayles with the maneuver in December 2019. Prior to this, Shuichiro Katsumura defeated Hiroyuki Yamashiro with a twister in ZST 20 on May 24, 2009.[9] On December 31, 2014, Shinya Aoki scored a first-round twister win over Yuki Yamamoto at Inoki Genome Federation's Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2014.[10] At the 2015 ADCC tournament in São Paulo, Vinny Magalhaes submitted Rodrigo Artilheiro in the quarterfinals using a twister.[11] Angela Lee defeated Natalie Hills by a Twister at One FC : Pride of Lions. [12]

Standing neck crank set-up

Facing opponent as though leveraging a guillotine, however cross facing the individual and rotating their head laterally, creating an incredibly dangerous hyperflexion of the neck sideways when hips are leveraged and the cross face is pulled up, attempting to apply extreme pressure and damage to the cervical vertebrae.[13]