The Mysteries of History (June 1 Edition)
Happy Heimlich Maneuver Day!
1974 — Heimlich Maneuver Publicized
public domain image from wikimedia commons
How many of us are aware that the Heimlich Maneuver, the inward-and-upward thrusting motion made when “hugging” someone from behind, is only 51 years old?
As most know, the Heimlich Maneuver is used when a person is choking or, as those in the medical profession sometimes called it (because people who needed this kind of intervention were often choking while eating in public somewhere), a Café Coronary. Although not a coronary (heart attack), the person’s actions often caused onlookers to believe that they were experiencing a heart attack.
In the June issue of Emergency Medicine magazine, Dr. Henry J. Heimlich’s article “Pop Goes the Café Coronary” was published, which explained how a layperson could perform this method of dislodging food caught in someone’s windpipe.
Prior to this new approach, the standard thing to do would be to perform a tracheostomy (cutting a hole in the throat to let air in), but only a trained physician can do that, not just anybody, as is true with this article’s eponymous action.
Tens of thousands of lives have been saved as a result of informed laypeople using this technique, and thus June 1 is National Heimlich Maneuver Day.
image generated using Bing Image Creator
Questions: Have you ever performed the Heimlich Maneuver? If not, do you know how to do it? Has the Heimlich Maneuver ever been performed on you? Otherwise, have you ever seen it performed, and what was the result?
