On Wed, 17 Aug 2005, Brian Rohrbacher wrote: >I would think the seat strap takes pressure off the leg straps. >I'm thinking the leg straps is what cuts off the circulation. Is >this thinking correct?
It is not that the circulation is cut off. Veins (the blood vessels that move blood back to the heart) do not have the ability to move blood without the muscles around them moving. The veins in your body have valves every so often that assist in moving the blood back to the heart. The problem described in the article is not a result of blood flow being "cut off". Rather, the problem described is one where the muscles in your legs are inactive, and therefore, do not force the blood back up to the heart. This results in a lowered volume of blood for available for the heart to pump. In this situation, your heart will "automatically" reduce the flow of blood by slowing down. As stated in the article, usually, this reduction in blood flow will result in the victim fainting, which, for someone on the ground, is a good thing, because a victim that is prone (horizontal), gravity can get the blood (at least some of it) back into the system, and the blood volume will increase. HOWEVER, since the vicitim is strapped into an upright position on a tower, this does not occur, and gravity keeps the blood in the legs. The thing to learn, for a tower climber, is that it is not a good idea to let your legs "rest" by hanging from your positioning gear with your legs completely inactive for extended periods. By "extended" here, I mean 2-4 minutes. When I climb, I will sometimes "relax" by allowing my legs to dangle below me for a few seconds. For me, this is not a very comfortable position, but it is nice to remove the pressure on my feet for a few seconds. I find this article especially interesting, because when I was in college, I was a pre-med student, and my "love" was circulatory system studies. :-) -- Butch Evans BPS Networks http://www.bpsnetworks.com/ Bernie, MO Mikrotik Certified Consultant (http://www.mikrotik.com/consultants.html) -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
