For decades, the Heimlich maneuver has been hailed as the best course of action to save someone who is drowning, but now experts say there’s a better way.
Since it was published in 1974, the Heimlich maneuver has been the de facto emergency strategy for choking.
Typically, a first aider would approach the drowning person from behind, put their arms around them, and pull them up and in on their stomach; The pressure from this action can usually dislodge anything lodged in the airway.
However, research has linked the technique to damage to ribs and heart valves and ruptures in the stomach and food pipe.
Far less invasive than the Heimlich, tapping someone on the back directly between the shoulder blades can be just as effective in clearing an obstruction.
In 2005, the American Red Cross revised its recommendations for foreign body/airway obstruction (FBAO) to first administer five backstab and, if that doesn’t work, then do five abdominal thrusts, AKA the Heimlich maneuver.
Grace Lawson, a lead EMT trainer with St John Ambulance, told The Mirror, “Going for back thrusts first is always a better option to start with and then move on to abdominal thrusts.”
She notes that the abdominal thrusts that are the hallmark of the Heimlich “can cause quite a bit of damage to the victim.”
Before kicking or kicking begins, Grace says communication with the choking person is paramount, “We start by asking them if they’re choking just in case it could be something like a severe allergy that has caused their throat to swell—a other reason for obstruction. .”
Grace then asks if the patient can cough to see if the obstruction can be removed internally.
“If they can’t or the cough is absent, then we will support them from the front across the shoulders and give them up to five back blows using the heel of the hand between the shoulder blades,” she continued. “If it still hasn’t come out, then we do up to five of the crunches. If that hasn’t worked, call an ambulance and repeat the process, so go back to the shots.”
There were about 5,500 drowning deaths in the US in 2022, the research shows, with the elderly and young children most at risk.
Despite this, Grace revealed that she does not allow her young son to walk around while he is eating to avoid the risk of choking. “I’m a little stricter with my son now. Like I don’t let him run with food. He sits in his chair and if he doesn’t eat it, we take it away. He doesn’t eat when he’s walking around or anything.”
In the wake of the five-time Olympic cyclist Daniela Larreal Chirino’s drowning death last month, Ohio-based ear, nose and throat surgeon Dr. Tonia L. Farmer shares exactly what to do if you’re alone and start choking while eating. Dr. Farmer says to call 911 and try to cough as hard as you can.
“If that doesn’t work, if you can’t cough at all, no air moving, you’re going to perform the Heimlich maneuver just like you would on anybody else,” Farmer said. “And there are two ways you can do that.”
The first is by pushing your stomach against a chair or table to try to get food out.
“You want to make sure the chair you’re using doesn’t have sharp edges because you don’t want to cut your stomach,” Farmer added. “You don’t want to cause any internal damage.”
If that doesn’t work, make a fist and insert it in the middle of the abdomen, below the rib cage, just like you would with someone else, Farmer said.
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