Suspension Trauma / Harness Hang Syndrome

TC

TC

Participating member
Very interesting article on Suspension Trauma/Harness Hang Syndrome.

Basically if a climber is unconsious and hanging in their harness they have to be dealt with in a very specific way to avoid further complications.

"DURING RESCUE NEVER ALLOW THEM TO LIE ON THE GROUND - THEY CAN DIE INSTANTLY OF A HEART ATTACK OR SUFFER MULTIPLE ORGAN FAILURE"

I did no know this. I was totally shocked when I read it.

I was always told to put the person in the recovery position, when you got them down out of the tree.

Why do guys always put the dummy in the recovery position in Tree Climbing Comps and practice rescues?

Link to Suspension Trauma/Harness Hang Article

More info

www.suspensiontrauma.info

How many people knew about this?
 
I heard about it on another forum, it had a link which I read. It made very good reading and sense.
The trick is to remember about it if you're ever in a situation of dealing with someone who's been hanging upright for a long time. In practice rescues we're dealing (hopefully) with a situation that just happened and they have not been hanging long enough for the 'syndrome' to be a problem??
I definitely think this side of the situation should be more widely made known, especially in training, I'd hate for someone to die unecessarily because of something that could have been prevented with a bit more knowledge.
 
It almost happened to me, twice. One can't hang out for very long in a leg-strap saddle.
 
We've had this discussion before.

This is a part of the text that you referred at;

[ QUOTE ]
The basics

ST is simply fainting in a harness. It will happen to anyone who is held in an upright position and with their legs immobile. Hanging in a harness with your legs still is an immediate risk to life because gravity drains blood away from the heart and it starts to pool in the legs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Suspension trauma as we hear about it all the time is a trauma that occurs as stated above; "when the person is in an upright position and when the blood pools in the legs.

First problem solved:
The saddles we use DO NOT keep you in an upright position. Your body is tilted backwards. This is a position that you don't want to be in for a long time but it will not kill you.
Ever seen a yoga master die of standing on his head?

Second problem solved:
The fall arrest harness referred to is an harness that keeps you upright and blocks all the blood flow to but mostly FROM your legs. The legstraps trap the veins on the inside of your upper legs.
Our work positioning saddle does not block the flow of the blood so there will be no pooling of blood.

Try this tomorrow; get into your saddle and get yourself hanging up 8 feet from the ground. Now lean back and slip your hands from your belly through the legstraps towards the inside of your upper legs. Can you do that? So can your blood. Try the same with an fall arrest harness. You can't get your hands to do the same route and neither can your blood follow that route from your legs up again.

This is from the second website;
[ QUOTE ]
Our blood supply and heart cannot cope very well with standing up - gravity pulls blood into the tissues of our legs, and the heart cannot suck it back. Eventually, if enough blood pools in the legs, we will faint. This is fine, so long as we fall over - the blood all rushes back - but if we can't fall over, then we die.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's just it.... We DO fall over and you know what? We probably fall over backwards. So the third problem is solved. OUR tongue can't block the airway. In an fall arrest harness your head tilts to the front blocking all.

I'm not saying take your time during rescue. But don't keep a story alive that is NOT referring to our tree climbing industry saddles.
 
I agree with you Treespotter on a number things you pointed out, but tommorrow, try this, get 8 ft off the ground or 9 if your feeling adventurous, make sure your away from the stem then totally relax your body, lie back for 10 minutes(a realistic time for a rescue if your lucky enough to have an excellent climber on the ground when you bang your head 70ft up).

Try it, and report back to us tommorow about how you felt after 10 mins.

I've done it for 1 minute and even that made me feel like a bloated carcass of a dead sheep floating down the river about to burst.

Did you know Henry VIII blew up whilst on his funeral barge floating down the River Thames. He died of syphilys. Not particularly relevant but interesting nevertheless.

What about the recovery position issue, how many people know about this?
 
seems I posted about this here in a TCC thread?
one would think another would mention it there, where it counted in points and, to excercise muscle memory or (routine) correctly?
please do your own research if you don't think you could be killed by this "while being rescued"
Our industry depends on this stuff... :P
 
[ QUOTE ]
seems I posted about this here in a TCC thread?
one would think another would mention it there, where it counted in points and, to excercise muscle memory or (routine) correctly?
please do your own research if you don't think you could be killed by this "while being rescued"
Our industry depends on this stuff... :P

[/ QUOTE ]

!!!????
What are you talking about Boo?

I think this is a serious issue. Which is why I posted it in the climbers thread so many people could see it.

I'd never heard of it and I reckon others are in the same boat as me on this one.

Sorry
 
Grover,

[ QUOTE ]
This is a position that you don't want to be in for a long time but it will not kill you.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is out of my own post. Been there, done that
grin.gif


I know what you mean. It's definitely not a thing you do voluntarily, especially for more than one minute. But bare with me. I know more positions that you can cramp in that are very unconfy. But that doesn't mean it will kill you.
 
From my reading of this it doesn't require circulation to be cut off. It's the static upright position hanging without your legs being in contact.

Funny that the pic shows the 'victim' hanging backwards.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
seems I posted about this here in a TCC thread?
one would think another would mention it there, where it counted in points and, to excercise muscle memory or (routine) correctly?
please do your own research if you don't think you could be killed by this "while being rescued"
Our industry depends on this stuff... :P

[/ QUOTE ]

!!!????
What are you talking about Boo?

I think this is a serious issue. Which is why I posted it in the climbers thread so many people could see it.

I'd never heard of it and I reckon others are in the same boat as me on this one.

Sorry

[/ QUOTE ]

Grover,

You seem like a fun-loving guy. We should try to get together sometime soon for drinks and laughs. Where did you say you were from again?
 
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