Originally published at: Watch CPR animation illustrate what happens on the inside | Boing Boing
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Last year I was in the check-in line at a small airport, and a guy three spots in front of me suddenly staggered and dropped to the ground. Two people in line were Air Force medics, and they were right on him. One of them began chest compressions. It was far deeper and more violent than this video makes it seem. Place a ruler next to your torso and see how far down two inches goes. I had been trained on CPR, but actually seeing it done was crazy.
After a few minutes the airport staff brought a defibrillator unit, and they zapped the guy back to life. CPR saves lives.
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This is great. I could not remember the 100-120 beats per minute or the 2 inches movement facts, but they illustrated why it doesn’t work if you do something else, and now I know I will remember.
The animation may look a bit genteel and polite, but they do say not to worry if you break a few ribs. You don’t muck about with CPR.
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This is why this is such a great animation. It should be mandatory viewing. I’m sure many more people would be prepared and able to do effective CPR if they saw this video and knew WHY it was important, why it was important TO DO IT LIKE THIS (and not any other way) and what it ACTUALLY DOES - all of which this video nailed, perfectly.
Yeah - a wonderful thing!
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This is so good for everyone to know. Deep compression, full decompression, and rapid. The preferred method now - and mandatory for single rescuer - is no pauses for breaths. Losing the pressure built up in the system takes a long time to regain. And chest compressions move some air into and out of the lungs.
A common misconception (I’m an Advanced EMT, so I hear this from people all the time) is that CPR alone will bring someone back. If they’ve actually arrested they must get a jolt from an AED (defibrillator). The heart needs a source to regain electrical impulse.
Thanks for posting this. When it works it’s pretty miraculous stuff.
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This animation shows the chest going down about the width of a finger.
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I’m not a health professional but have undertaken CPR training probably a dozen times over the years. This animation is great. Thanks for posting.
My only serious quibble is that the apparent depth of the compressions is way less than 2”.
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Video link for the BBS:
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My mom was a registered nurse and she would tell me CPR breathing on a person is easier than on a dummy, but if you are really going to be effective on the compression you better be ready to crack a rib. Which makes sense considering your ribs are there to protect your lungs and heart. Compressing your rib cage far enough to compress the heart is going to hurt.
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I remember this episode of Radiolab when it aired. Definitely gave me something to think about.
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