Bring unresponsive diver to surface upside down??

[Subcooled]

There is only one way to open the air way: Pull the head back. A chin in the chest postion closes the airway.

This is a physiological fact and not dependent on how one is aligned to the stars (or the surface).

The airway must be open to let expanding air to escape and not cause a burst lung.

If the mouth points up, then air can escape and water enter.

If the mouth points down, then excessive/expanding air can escape, but water does not enter.

Just put a glass upside down in the water and see.

Don't blame me for the deaths of your friends, if they get a burst lung, as some bubble somehow cannot exit. Seek expert advice instead. No. Not from this forum.

Unconscious diver = body recovery - unless it's a freediver, they practice drowning on a weekly basis

 

[Hickdive]

There is only one way to open the air way: Pull the head back. A chin in the chest postion closes the airway.

This is a physiological fact and not dependent on how one is aligned to the stars (or the surface).

The airway must be open to let expanding air to escape and not cause a burst lung.

If the mouth points up, then air can escape and water enter.

If the mouth points down, then excessive/expanding air can escape, but water does not enter.

Just put a glass upside down in the water and see.

Don't blame me for the deaths of your friends, if they get a burst lung, as some bubble somehow cannot exit. Seek expert advice instead. No. Not from this forum.

Unconscious diver = body recovery - unless it's a freediver, they practice drowning on a weekly basis

I take it you haven't read the paper I linked to or, if you have, you are more of an expert than Dr. Mitchell et al. after all, he's only a consultant anaesthetist and wtf would he know about airways or resuscitation and I'm sure he's not done nearly as many dives as you either.

 

[toddthecat]

My biggest complaint to this upside down thing is the fact you have no access to the victims LPI. When air in their BC expands and they go on a runaway ascent, you won't be able to stop it by dumping your own BC. In addition, you should be holding the regulator in the victims mouth (if you find it there upon finding the victim). If this person is unconscious but breathing and you start dragging them around by the fins, you might end up causing the reg to fall out of the mouth. Talk about making a bad situation worse...

I've never heard of this upside down recovery thing and I certainly wouldn't think it's a good idea. You can open the airway manually while holding the reg in. Also, as mentioned, an unconscious or nonbreathing person will not be capable of holding their breath.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Upside down TO ME makes as much sense as just taking a treble hook to their chin and attaching a lift bag to that. Inflate and wave bye bye.

 

[victorzamora]

Subcooled, you're absolutely right. My method has and will be horizontal, face down. I've luckily not needed it. However, I was just thinking aloud. Clearly I thunk wrong....I just didn't think it all the way through.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk

 

[Aguablanco1]

While I have concern for the unresponsive diver, my main focus is the rescuer. Whatever is safest and easiest is, in my opinion, best. Most important, never become the second victim. Second most important, get the distressed diver to the surface, as quickly as is safely possible for the rescuer.
RichH

 

[Subcooled]

I take it you haven't read the paper I linked to or, if you have, you are more of an expert than Dr. Mitchell et al. after all, he's only a consultant anaesthetist and wtf would he know about airways or resuscitation and I'm sure he's not done nearly as many dives as you either.

If you refer to this:

"pay particular attention to page 1104, paragraph 2. As long as the casualty's chin isn't positively pushed down onto their chest to obstruct their airway then expanding gas will escape passively."

then if you put a person upside down, the head automatically falls back, as stated earlier in this thread.

I will take a closer look at the pdf soon. It's interesting.

 

[Doubler]

This reminds me of the old wives tale told to me by an old Hawaiian tropical fish collector. It is two part
1. You can not get bent on a 72 because you don't have enough air to stay at depth long enough to build up nitrogen.
2. Always return to the surface feet first starting at 25 feet. This forces all the bubbles to your feet. As soon as you are back on board stomp your feet and break up the bubbles.
Two weeks later he was in the chamber. Heard he went to 220 on a 72. Guess the foot stomp didn't work out so well. I wonder if he bought a dive shop. Just sayin'.

 

[corvettejoe]

NEVER heard of this either... NAUI teaches as the other agencies do...head up.
It would also seem to me to be a PITA to try to get the person back to head up once you reach the surface to check for signs of life, much less trying to purge their BC, fill it, etc while they are upside down (unless they have easy to access butt dumps, etc)

---------- Post added October 9th, 2013 at 04:04 PM ----------

Upside down TO ME makes as much sense as just taking a treble hook to their chin and attaching a lift bag to that. Inflate and wave bye bye.

Great idea! I'm going to start carrying one attached to my lift bag now LOL