Saturday, January 17, 2009

I am a professional. Do not try this at home.

I did a sternal rub on myself. OUCH. OW, dammit.

Since I am going to be working at the Neuro, I've been reviewing neurovital signs and level of consciousness (LOC) assessments. If a client can't be aroused by calling their name softly, shouting or even shaking, the next step is to cause pain. A sternal rub is when you take your fist and knead your knuckles firmly into one's sternum for 15 to 30 seconds. This causes severe pain and may result in bruising. Don't try it. I know you want to, but don't do it.

Why did I do a sternal rub on myself? Because I wanted to know if it really hurt. Why I couldn't just trust the various textbooks, videos and lectures that all tell me that it's painful and causes the maximum response in everyone, I'll never know. I am, after all, the same person who headbutted my brother to see if it would hurt. But I've learned my lesson now, so I won't be trying a trapezius pinch or periorbital pressure on myself.

By the way, I totally wrote the sternal rub instructions up there so that you would all try it on yourselves. MOOAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, the delicious evility!

4 comments:

JG said...

Yes, so, I'm still not going to try this on myself. One of my friends in class apparently does this to wake up her husband. Ouch!

Ladyjutea said...

That is SO mean. It must be really hard for her to wake him up if she's resorting to this.

Kevin Lau said...

I would never even have thought of performing that on myself. You're an odd one ;)

Ladyjutea said...

Surely this is not the first time such a thought has occurred to you, Kevin! I've been "eccentric" for as long as you've known me, person who invented the word "evility"!