It was on June 1, 1974, that a groundbreaking lifesaving technique made its debut in the pages of Emergency Medicine Magazine. Thoracic surgeon Henry Heimlich had developed what would become known as the Heimlich maneuver after discovering that choking on food was responsible for a near-epidemic number of deaths and near-deaths among Americans.
Before this technique came along, the medical community's approach to the choking crisis involved designing various devices intended to dislodge food from blocked airways. The problem? These contraptions tended to be overly complex and were almost never on hand when emergencies actually struck — emergencies that allow only a matter of minutes before they turn fatal.
Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Henry Heimlich devised his now-famous maneuver, which eliminates the need for any special equipment. All it takes is an able-bodied bystander who knows the right hand placement and pressure technique. The steps are straightforward: position yourself behind the choking individual, form a fist with one hand, wrap your other hand around it, and deliver six to ten abdominal thrusts just beneath the diaphragm to force the obstruction free. This upward pressure against the diaphragm — located just below the rib cage — drives air out of the lungs with enough force to clear the airway.
The path to this discovery involved Henry Heimlich practicing the technique on anesthetized dogs in a controlled medical setting, done both safely and humanely. Since its introduction, the maneuver has rescued countless lives — and will undoubtedly continue to do so for generations to come.