Last Updated On: December 5, 2024
Do you know sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) can happen with little to no warning at all? Cardiac arrest, a life-threatening emergency, happens when your heart loses its ability to pump blood through the body. Therefore, you should know how to perform CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) to maintain blood flow and oxygen to restore normal breathing and heart function. While performing CPR increases the odds of survival, focusing on the CPR hand placement increases the effectiveness of the technique while reducing the risk of injury to the patients.
Read on to know the correct hand position for CPR and how to ensure you are doing it correctly!
Proper hand placement aids in delivering effective chest compressions while performing life-saving techniques. If your hands are not placed properly, the compression will not be adequate, reducing the chances of restoring circulation. Let us break down the elements of the proper hand position for CPR.
To ensure proper hand position for CPR, you should find the accurate location on the victim’s chest. Place your hand in the center of their chest, slightly below the sternum. The exact point is roughly in line with the nipple line. Now place the heel of your second hand on top of your first, interlacing them together. This will ensure stability and prevent your hands from slipping during compressions.
While performing CPR, fingers should not be placed directly on the chest for compressions. The fingers should be interlaced with each other and kept off the chest region entirely to avoid causing any injury to the victim’s ribs or sternum. The palms of your hands should be the primary point of contact.
While administering CPR, your elbows should be locked, and your arms should be straight. This proper alignment ensures that your body weight will assist in adequate chest compressions, so you don’t have to rely on muscle strength alone. The force generated by your body weight will create sufficient depth for effective compressions.
Read More: Mastering High-Quality CPR: All You Need To Know
When performing CPR on an adult, you should press down firmly to a depth of at least 2–2.4 inches with a heart compression rate of around 100–120 beats per minute. The chest compressions should be performed deeply and quickly enough to circulate oxygenated blood throughout the body. Here’s a step-by-step guide for CPR chest placement in adults.
In the first step, ensure that the victim is lying flat on a stable surface, like the floor or ground. Kneel beside them to gain easy access to their chest.
Place your two fingers at the bottom of the sternum (breastbone), where the victim’s lower ribs meet in the middle of the chest. This location is optimal for compressions as it is near the heart’s location, reducing the risk of injury to other parts of the ribcage or organs.
Place the heel of your dominant hand on the lower half of the victim’s sternum, just above where the ribs connect. Avoid positioning the heel too low on the sternum, as it might cause injury to internal organs like the liver.
Position your second hand on top of the first, overlapping or interlocking your fingers. Instead of placing your fingers directly on the victim’s chest, keep them slightly elevated so that only the heel of your lower hand is in contact with the sternum.
With your hands in place, lock your elbows and keep your arms straight. Position your shoulders directly above your hands. With this alignment, you can use the weight of your upper body, rather than your arms, to perform deeper and more consistent compressions without tiring.
When it comes to children’s physiology, CPR positioning requires slight modifications and techniques due to their fragile structure. Before performing CPR, ensure the child’s airway is clear of any obstructions. Here’s how to ensure the proper hand position for child CPR.
Lay the child on a firm surface and kneel beside them, ensuring they are lying face-up. Similar to adult victims, place your fingers on the child’s lower half of the sternum.
In most children, use only one hand to perform compressions. If the child’s physiology is larger, you can use two hands, similar to adult CPR , to achieve proper depth and rate.
Using two hands despite the smaller structure of the child increases the risk of rib fractures or other injuries to the child’s chest cavity. Additionally, keep your fingers elevated off the chest to avoid exerting force directly onto the sternum.
The physiology of infants is extremely delicate, which indicates that hand position CPR requires great care to avoid injury and ensure proper blood circulation. When performing CPR on infants, use the two-finger technique, following these instructions:
Place the infant on their back on a flat, hard surface and either sit or kneel beside them. Use your index and middle fingers to find the spot about one finger width below the imaginary line between the nipples. This spot ensures that compressions are delivered directly to the center of the chest, minimizing the risk of injury to the liver or ribs.
Place your index and middle fingers on the center of the chest, and press down to compress the chest by approximately 1.5 inches. This depth, about one-third of the chest, provides adequate compressions without overwhelming the infant’s small body. The two-finger technique minimizes the force applied while maximizing the depth required for blood flow. Avoid using your entire hand, as this could result in fractures or other injuries.
Infants are more likely to benefit from rescue breaths, as respiratory issues and cardiac arrest are common in this age group. Ensure a 30:2 compression-to-breath ratio for successful resuscitation efforts.
Read More: Infant and Child CPR Steps | How To Give CPR To A Child
CPR is a life-saving procedure that combines chest compressions and rescue breaths to maintain blood circulation and oxygen supply. Proper CPR hand placement maximizes your chances of restarting the victim’s heart following cardiac arrest. By positioning your hands in the center of the lower half of the breastbone and compressing straight down at the proper rhythm, you can provide the most effective stimulation to the heart. Additionally, following the recommended depth and rate for compression with proper training increases the chances of survival for someone in cardiac arrest.
