A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee. This type of attack is used frequently by hooved animals as well as humans in the context of stand-up fighting. Kicks play a significant role in many forms of martial arts, such as capoeira, kalaripayattu, karate, kickboxing, kung fu, wing chun, MMA, Muay Thai, pankration, pradal serey, savate, sikaran, silat, taekwondo, vovinam, and Yaw-Yan. Kicks are a universal act of aggression among humans.
Kicking in a taekwando match
A kick delivered to a downed or falling enemy (a demon), Angkor period (c. 13th century) bas-relief at Banteay Chhmar in Cambodia.
A kick used in armed combat as a means of displacing the opponent's shield in historical European martial arts (Hans Talhoffer 1459)
A kick to the knee as depicted in a Baroque Ringen treatise (Johann Georg Passchen 1659)
A strike is a directed, forceful physical attack with either a part of the human body or with a handheld object, intended to cause blunt or penetrating trauma upon an opponent.
Senegalese Naval Infantry and US Marines practice striking.
Bas-relief of an elbow strike to the jaw at Angkor Wat(12th century) in Cambodia
