Description

ABSTRACT. Back blows produce less pressure than the Heimlich maneuvers in seated subjects. In addition, back blows throw the head and neck forward and upward due to straightening the spine. Such blows theoretically can displace supraglottic foreign bodies further downward and backward into the throat or larynx. Pediatrics 70-113-119. 1982; choking, abdominal thrust, back blows.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This work was supported in part by The Dysphagia Foundation. Inc. Cincinnati....

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From "Red Cross Update" by Abram Katz, New Haven Register, 10/23/06: http://tinyurl.com/5faun9

Choking: The Heimlich Abdominal Thrust vs Back Blows: An Approach to Measurement of Inertial and Aerodynamic Forces, by Day, Crelin and DuBois, could well have been the final word. Except that in acknowledgments at the end of the paper, the authors credit support from the "Dysphagia Foundation Inc. of Cincinnati Inc." And records from the Ohio Secretary of State's office show that the Dysphagia Foundation was renamed "The Heimlich Institute" Aug. 30, 1982. In other words, the Yale experts studying the Heimlich maneuver were apparently assisted by Dr. Henry J. Heimlich, developer and tireless promoter of the Heimlich maneuver. He referred to back blows as "death blows." The connection between Heimlich and the Yale scientists appears to pose at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.