Henry Heimlich develop "Heimlich Maneuver" for emergency condition of choking

Choking condition  (credit)

Let's say that you and your friend are having a good time and eating out in a restaurant and all of a sudden , your friend starts chocking ! Then you ask "Are you okay ? " . And the common international sign that anyone gives is holding a neck with both the hands and saying "I can't breathe ! Something is going on ! ". So, if you are out in a place of business or restaurant and call someone out for a help or call people to help you out, tell them what you are doing and just don't attack the chocking person cause it will heighten their anxiety and the panic attacks into the next level. All you have to do is a process called as "Heimlich Maneuver"

Life is something that cannot exists without breathing and that is the reason why choking is a deadly cause for death of 4,800 per year. This has become a leading cause of death for the children under the age of four years old. Chocking is something when someone who is having a very hard time breathing because a food or toy or any other objects is blocking the throat or a wind pipe. When this happens, the blocked wind pipe cannot transfer air (oxygen) to the lungs and due to this less oxygen , the brain damage can occur within 4-6 mins.

During the 1972, Cincinnati's doctor read a story about the choking. And at the time, the choking was the sixth major cause of accidental death . Even there was no any acceptable strategy for managing the choking conditions.These statistics just inspired him and led him to formulate a simple ways to prevent deaths from the choking.This led to formulation of a procedure called as "Heimlich maneuver" .Very rapid first aid for the cure of choking can save a persons life and also the abdominal thrust is one of the emergency technique to clear someone's airway. It is done when a person is choking and conscious both. But, this abdominal thrust is not done in the infants below one year says the physicians.

Heimlich maneuver is the one of the process to save a life from choking. This process uses a force which comes from an abdominal thrust for letting the objects out of the air-pipe. Below the lungs, the muscles is located which is also called as diaphragm. This is the muscles which helps in expiring or breathing out of the air . This works on the behalf of creating an artificial cough. Just by pushing or contracting the muscle of diaphragm, the maneuver forces the air inside the lung out and even forces the air out of the wind-pipe thereby leading  to expulsion of the trapped object out.

Basic Anatomy of choking  (credit)

How do you carry out the Heimlich maneuver ? 

Depending upon the age and needs for the choking person, there are mainly four ways to perform the procedure. The approach is the same, i.e pushing the abdominal muscles of the diaphragm and forcing the lodged object out of the wind-pipe. 

 Conscious child or adult

Child over 1 years old or adult who is conscious but cannot breath, speak or cough , immediate Heimlich Maneuver is performed. Steps are: 

1. Firstly, stand behind the person who has choked , and wrap the arms around the waist (diaphragm).
2. By making one hand as a fist, the thumb of the fist should be facing against the stomach of the person which is below the ribs and slightly above the belly button. Here, the diaphragm muscled as felt. 
3. Placing the other hand over the fist, muscles are pushed with a force and in rapid manner with a upward thrust . 
4. Continue the abdominal thrust until the object comes out . 

Unconscious child or adult -

Child or adult who cannot stand or sit in position and is unconscious, following steps are followed :

1. Positioning the choked person flat on their back. 
2. Sitting on their thigh and facing directly towards them .
3. Placing the hand over other and support with the heel of the hand , push the abdominal muscle inward and upward located at the lover boarder of the rib cage and slightly above the belly button. Move slightly backward and forward to produce more upthrust. 
4. Continue this steps until the object is cleared enough. 

Conducting Heimlich on yourself -

What if you are alone and start choking when there is no help around ? Conduct these steps :

1. Firstly, make a fist and with a thumb resting on the stomach, position on the diaphragm which will be under the rib cage and slightly above the belly button. 
2. Make a upthrust by pushing inward and upward until the objects are expelled out. 
3. If this doesn't work , then lean over the chair or any supporting object and have the edge of the object position to your diaphragm and push in and up. Moving slightly forward and backward can generate more thrusts. 
4. Continue these steps until the lodged object comes out. 

For infants under 1 year -

What is the choking happens in the infants under 1 year of age ? Don't panic, just follow these steps : 

1. Lay down the baby in a position keeping the baby's face down on the forearm . The head should be lower than the baby's chest level. 
2. With another forearm resting in the thigh, just support the baby's head with the other hand .
3. Ensure that the baby's mouth and nose is not covered. 
4. Use the heel of the hand to smack the baby's back which will be in between the blades of shoulder for 4-5 times. Continue this process until the object comes out .
5. In case this fails, just turn the baby over. Put the two fingers in the center of the baby's chest which will be in between the two nipples. With some force, push down four times about a depth of 1 inch. Continue this process until the lodged particle comes out . 

What's the history behind the Heimlich maneuver ? 

Henry Heimlich   (credit)

A person named as Henry Heimlich, a thoracic surgeon who went through the epidemic study of the deaths due to the choking . He discovered that the American Red Cross used the technique of slapping the victims on their back. But however, there was not much of the evidences in supporting this strategy. After some experiment he did on dog by anesthetizing. He tried giving a blow kick and found that the object rather passed  down the air-pipe. So, he also found out that the forced press on the chest also was of no use because the ribs prevents the expelling of air through the lungs.

Heimlich with further study discovered that the forced press towards the diaphragm in upward direction helps in pushing the air along with the object choked . This was the simple procedure and this became the Heimlich Maneuver. After some years, the Red cross Organizations began using this strategy in saving the lives of people who were choking . 

So, is it better than other strategies for cure choking ? 

Since this strategy replaces the back blow and the thrusts applied on chest in the condition of choking. Even the people during emergency condition applies this heimlich maneuver technique during choking. This still remains unclear that the Heimlich is the bettery choice or is it just more popular among people and physicians  and also it is the easier one to perform. 

During the study of 1976 study, Heimlich -style abdominal upthrust was compared to chest thrust. This was just performed among the six men. This small sample size showed that the chest thrust was more better than the Heimlich thrust. But, with the large scale sample size, the researches had got a different result than the small sample size. This research found that the Heimlich Maneuver was far more better than the chest thrust with conclusive proofs that Heimlich is better

Heimlich maneuver practice 

Steps in conducting Heimlich maneuver  (credit)

It is hard to conduct the Heimlich maneuver in the person who is not choking . But , since the technique involves the pushing of the diaphragm , it is possible for people to familiarize themselves and easily locate it as a thick band of muscles just below the rib cage. Pushing this thick band of muscles produces a jarring type of sensation that helps in pushing out the air out of lungs.  This procedure can be bolster confidence in curing the event of actual choking episode. 

In the safety part,if he cough, speak talk, breathe, gag then he is not choking. Let him cough what is stuck inside . Remember only to use this Heimlich maneuver if the person is unable to take out the lodge object and cannot breathe out.  This cannot save a drowning person and other emergency condition like cardiac arrest and a seizure.

In the Conclusion, 

The Heimlick maneuver fails if the lodged particle or object in deeply stuck in the wind-pipe or because the person doesn't know the maneuver correctly. So better call 911 always when someone is choking . But if there are two person nearby then one should call 911 and the other performing the Heimlich Maneuver correctly. This can maximize the survival rate of the choking person . 

So, this is all for today in this blog post. Hope to meet you on another article. Thanks for giving up a view and going through the post . Thanks ! 

With love, 

khatisam4

---

Reference Used :

(1) http://www.dictionary.com/browse/heimlich-maneuver

(2)http://henryheimlich.com/how-to-perform-the-heimlich-maneuver/

(3)http://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-choking/basics/art-20056637

(4)https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319516.php

(5)https://www.healthline.com/health/heimlich-maneuver#steps2

.

---

Latest Health Post: 

(1)   "Good" cholesterol might actually be bad - High Density Lipoprotein

(2)  "Game Changing vaccine" - HIV vaccine trial launched by the South Africa ! - Himal-Health-Contest #4

(3)  Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva rare disorder - " Stone Man Syndrome "

 (4) Surprisingly ,Human and zebrafish matched with mato cells of brain !

(4) BiliScreen vs BiliCam App to detect Jaundice and Pancreatic Carcinoma 

---