CPR Made Easy℠

Effective CPR is usually limited by the physical capability of the rescuer. As CPR becomes more important to resuscitation, the issue of rescuer fatigue will begin to play a role in the ability to perform a successful resuscitation.

95% of all arrests occur outside of hospitals. With a national response time of 8-10 minutes and the likelyhood that that the typical cardiac arrest victim will be a candidate for defibrillation, the duration intervals of CPR remain high. The value of using the Lifebelt-CPR device is that the average rescuer will be able to perform high-quality CPR for a longer period of time and increase the possibility of a successful resuscitation.

Muscle is made up of two different types of fiber.

-Slow twitch fibers are fibers that are responsible for the strength and endurance, and not the speed in which a muscle contracts. Its response is defined as one where your muscles can undergo extensive repetitive contractions before fatigue.

-The fast twitch muscle fibers, which are responsible for giving a person his speed, agility, quickness, and power, are 10 times faster than slow fibers and fatigue at a much faster rate.



The above graph represents the relationship between Load as a percentage of Muscle Strength as it relates to time. This relationship best demonstrates the LifeBelt® principle whereby we recruit the slow twitch muscle fiber by reducing the amount of force required to achieve a complete compression. Thus, reducing the amount of fatigue experienced by the rescuer. Consequently, the rescuer is able to maintain high quality CPR over a significantly greater period of time.

Why is this important?
In 1998, an article was published in the Journal, Resuscitation by Ochoa FJ, et al. This article evaluated the ability of thirty-eight physicians and nurses of the Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Room of one hospital on their ability to perform manual CPR. Regardless of gender, the average of rescuer demonstrated a significant loss in their ability to provide adequate compressions over a short interval of 5 minutes as defined by the American Heart Association Guidelines.



In a similar study conducted at Harbor UCLA Medical Center by Dr. Niemann and presented at the 2004 Resuscitation Symposium at the American Heart Association's Annual Meeting, the ability for the rescuer to maintain consistent compressions using the LifeBelt®-CPR device was presented.