Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Choke!

So, Mrs. Nihil has come down with a pretty bad cold/cough and has been going through cough drops like nobody's business.

Last night, she fell asleep with a cough drop in her mouth, so I woke her up, saying, "Come on, I don't want you accidentally choke and have to do the Heimlich maneuver on you."

That got me thinking...


I wonder how exactly the "Heimlich maneuver" was ever even refined.

I mean, looking at the wiki article on Heimlich, it's all sort of vague. Up until 1976, it looks like the American Heart Association and the Red Cross both advocated a series of "backblows" to aid choking victims. In '76 they added the Heimlich to their guide and then, in 1985, made it the exclusive recommended approach.

But... how did he first convince anyone to change?

It's like, OK, someone must have been choking and the backblow thing wasn't working so - in desperation - he tried the abdominal thrust, and... it worked!

But then?

I imagine in order to completely change a medical recommendation, one would have to - you know - duplicate the results. Did he just wait around until someone else was choking and do it again? Or did he take a more active approach?

Did he actually induce choking... just to practice his "maneuver"? Did he buy his wife a bag of cough drops?


It's all just very confusing to me.

Oh... my... god!


Well, I found my answer.

Needless to say, I won't be telling the animal-loving Mrs. Nihil (or Rockhopper Lad, for that matter) that old Heimlich developed his maneuver by practicing on...

http://www.abea.net/about/historical/heimlich/index.html

...a freaking beagle!

When I was sick I surprisingly found that a general pain medecine called panadol (in the UK) really helped my cough and throat. Bizarre but it is true. Sometimes it has caffeine as well but I was using it before I went to bed so I don't think it had caffeine. Cough drops weren't working on me.

Panadol appears to be acetaminophen. Tylenol in the US.

Not sure if it was a fluke or specific to me but next time I get a sore throat/cough I will take some.

Hope she gets better soon and really hope you don't need to practice any Heimlich maneuver's besides for romantic purposes. he he

a beagle, hunh? Beagz should know bout this. Hope she's better soon, mon frere.