PEDIATRICS Vol. 71 No. 6 June 1983, pp. 976-978
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by DAY, R. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by DAY, R. L.

Differing Opinions on the Emergency Treatment of Choking

RICHARD L. DAY MD1

1 5 Lakeview Terrace, Westbrook, Connecticut

In this issue, Montgomery1 criticizes Heimlich's article2 published last year and goes on to cast doubt on the Heimlich maneuver and Heimlich's fear of back blow. Valid research on choking is difficult, and impossible to conduct in children because it would be unethical. Experimental and anecdotal data concerning adults, although scarce, do exist. The reader is referred to Gordon et al,3 Ruben and MacNaughton,4 Redding,5 and Day et al.6

The last of these four studies introduces measurement of the ballistic forces on the neck in response to the momentary straightening of the spine induced by a back blow. A supraglottic foreign body would be expected to be forced downward with more than three times the pull og gravity.