Rehabmart offers many different types of assistive and daily living items at discount prices. Visit our daily living aids page to view the different products we have to offer!
 
Rehabmart is extremely proud to offer a new, innovative self-assisted choking device based on the Heimlich maneuver that will combat choking even if you are the only person at home or in the car. The Heimlich Helper is lightweight, easily affordable, and should be in every home and hotel room. It is not dependent on batteries or electricity to function and will always work when needed.

Choking is defined by food or another foreign object becoming lodged in the airway, accounting for nearly 4,500 deaths each year.  Food or small objects cause choking if they get caught in your throat, thus blocking your airway.  This prevents oxygen from getting to your lungs and brain.  The human brain cannot go without oxygen for more than four minutes without resulting in brain damage, or even death.   The oxygen that the body stores in the blood and lungs actually keep the victim of an accident alive for several minutes even though breathing has ceased completely. 

   From library.rehabmart.com
Choking is rated as America's fifth top cause for accidental death, and it is has grown into a serious societal safety issue.  The statistics are alarming in that the great majority of accidental deaths occur at home with the top five causes stemming from daily activities.  Younger children have a higher risk of choking, and one child in the US dies from choking every five days.  Hot dogs are an easy but potentially deadly meal.  According to a WebMd report, hot dogs are rated as the number one choking hazard for children.   Always place any potential hazards out of the reach of children and supervise all food consumption. 

But the choking statistics are not only on the rise for children, but for obese and elderly people as well.  Henry Heimlich invented the Heimlich maneuver in 1974 for to combat this life-threatening problem, so why are so many people still choking, sometimes to death?  The Heimlich maneuver is to be administered by a second, non-choking person in the room who wraps their arms below the choking victim's ribcage and applys abdominal thrusts to the person's diaphragm-causing an artificial cough that forcefully expels any blockage to the airway. 

Unfortunately, Americans are so busy that we often eat at home alone, in hotels alone, or in the car going to or from work alone.  Also more prevalent in today's American society than at any other time in our history is the sheer consumerism that has affected how Americans eat. With 700 calorie dollar burgers at every fast food joint on every corner, we are not eating healthy foods or even healthy portions.  This has led to Americans mindlessly eating and not masticating/chewing their food as thoroughly, which  has certainly contributed to choking being on the rise. 

 The bottom line is that a quick reaction and keeping a cool head when someone is choking can save lives, so learn how to perform the Heimlich maneuver to help save others.  But keep the Heimlich Helper handy wherever and whenever you dine alone!


Alyssa Aldana,
Medical Consumer Writer
and
Hulet Smith, OT
Rehabmart Team Leader & CEO