Henry Heimlich: a life-saving maneuver for food choking

Since Henry Heimlich's description of a method for relieving food choking was presented, the management of foreign body upper airway obstruction has been enveloped in controversy. The major point of contention has been the approval by the American Red Cross and American Heart Association of the chest thrust and back blows, techniques that Heimlich considered inferior and dangerous. The body of clinical data regarding choking is largely retrospective and anecdotal. There have been few experimental physiologic studies. Most studies have found airway pressures generated by back blows to be higher than those produced by chest or abdominal thrusts. However, chest and abdominal thrusts produce their effects over a more sustained time period.