CIRCULATION VS. NERVE IMPACT

CIRCULATION

Your blood supply gets distributed to all of your body tissue. Arteries carry blood away from the heart and out to the ends of your circulatory system. There it spreads out to your capillaries. Capillaries help to send nutrients and oxygen throughout the body as well as absorb the waste once different parts of the body have collected what they need. The capillaries then feed this waste into larger veins, sending it back to the heart.

When circulation is reduced in an area of the body, your risk of long-term or permanent damage increases the longer the area is restricted. There have been cases of limbs handling lack of blood flow with no negative long-term effects for 2-4 hours (this does not include those with pre-existing circulation issues) – muscles, only lasting 30-40 minutes without complications. However, it’s always better to play it on the safe side and plan your rope session to take as little time as possible. Despite how long some can last in rope, long-term or permanent damage can occur at any point during play.

Symptoms of lack of circulation can include numbness, loss of sensation, tingling, changes in skin color and temperature, fatigue, dizziness, or pain. However, it’s important to understand that when circulation is reduced, you have a higher risk of missing important warning signs for nerve damage. For example, loss of sensation could be due to loss of blood flow or it could be the start of nerve damage. It can happen instantly or gradually over multiple scenes. Even if you tie as safely as possible, there’s awalys a risk of permanently injuring someone.

NERVE IMPACT

Nerves have one or two functions: 1. Sensation (referred to as “innervation”) 2. Motor functions (referred to as “mobility”). Sensory nerves help inform the brain of temperature, vibration, pressure and pain. An example of this is losing feeling in your pinky and ring finger, but still being able to move your entire hand. Motor nerves help inform and send messages to the brain about muscle movement. A prime example of this is wrist drop – when the wrist cannot move on its own into an extended position, resulting in the wrist and hand hanging limp. Sensory and Motor functions are critical to our day-to-day life (cutting food, typing on the computer, carrying groceries, etc.), so it’s important to understand the risks of putting them in jeapordy.

Nerves can be damaged two ways: Compressive Force and Shearing force. Compressive Force is compression over a period of time. An example of this would be a tightness of a wrap on a wrist over the course of being tied into a chest harness. Shearing force is the friction caused over a certain area. An example of this would be the body part that feels pressure and contact with the rope during a transition in suspension. If you equate nerves to a bundle of dry noodles, squeazing or hitting the bundle will cause some pieces to break. If you twisted the bundle at both ends, most of bundle will break and collapse.