The potential of leg-foot chest compression as an alternative to conventional hands-on compression during cardiopulmonary resuscitation:

Background:Conventional hands-on chest compression, in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is often inadequate, especially when the rescuers are weak or have a small physique.Objectives:This study aimed to investigate the potential of leg-foot chest compression, with and without a footstool, during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.Methods and Results:We prospectively enrolled 21 medical workers competent in basic life support. They performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a manikin for 2 min using conventional hands-on compression (HO), leg-foot compression (LF), and leg-foot compression with a footstool (LF + FS). We analyzed the compression depths, changes in the rescuers’ vital signs, and the modified Borg scale scores after the trials. The compression depth did not differ between the cases using HO and LF. In the case of LF + FS, compression depths ⩾5 cm were more frequently observed (median, inter-quartile range: 93%, 81%–100%) than in HO (9%, 0%–57%, p < 0.01) and LF (28%, 11%–47%, p < 0.01). The increase...