I recently received an email from a self-professed “local known expert” and veteran educator of some 20 years experience after making my post asking what could be done, if anything, to protect people from incompetent teachers. His reply was strewn with personal insults and made light of my concerns over nerve damage saying: “Nerve issues come hand in hand with any form of TK tying due to radial nerve and placement of the ropes crossing the arms, the solution if someone is having an issue move the fucking rope up or down and boom (the) issue is either safely mitigated or gone, TADAHHHH!!!!!!!”
Such comments highlight the degree of ignorance about this tie, the associated risk of nerve damage if the finer points are ignored and how to mitigate problems. This is exactly the sort of glib and ill-considered advice that I’d like to see opened to challenge on public forums. I did invite him to do so but haven’t heard from him since or seen a post putting the comment up for critique! I can’t imagine why 😉 I find this all a little odd from somebody who gives lip service to improving educational standards but I’m beginning to develop a theory as to why he seemed to fin my thread so threatening.
In the first place, this all assumes that the person being tied knows what symptoms to report. When I tie people, I brief them to tell me immediately of even the slightest tingling or electrick shock-like sensations, especially if they shoot down the arm or into the fingers or thumb. It is a good idea to make them aware of the sort of sensations to look out for by tapping or probing sensitive areas gently. This also is essential guidance for you as the rigger so you know where to avoid.
Anyway, I started a thread asking for the group’s views on how to deal with a warning of possible nerve impingement. Is it sufficient to “move the fucking rope up or down and boom (the) issue is either safely mitigated or gone, TADAHHHH!!!!!!” or not? Certainly, this might be viable during floor-work and in some suspension situations but, and it is quite a big but, one has to know exactly what is causing the problem. I think you’d need to find somebody very sensitive or tie really badly to get a nerve issue with a t-k in floor work, unless it’s just an overly tight wrist tie. Of course, if your partner gives clear explicit instructions, e.g. “Would you move the right upper wrap down a bit?”, or the solution is blindingly obvious like a badly slipped wrap, it might be appropriate. What if they say “I’m getting an weird feeling in my right hand”?. What then?
If you move the rope ‘on the fly’ how can you always be sure a) which rope is causing the problem b) where to move it to to alleviate the problem? A loaded rope with a kannuki (cinch) can be very hard to move anyway but how do you know which rope upstream of the symptoms are causing it or even if it is a rope that is the culprit? It could be pressure of the bunnies own body parts, like the heel of the hand pressing on the radial on the mid outer forearm, or a positional entrapment. Most good riggers I know seem to appreciate this difficulty so prefer to get them down fast safely, or at least reduce the load, and then sort it out. I can cite at least two examples of delay caused by trying to sort it out ‘on the fly’ being a big factor.
As for cutting people down, it is something of a last resort. Certainly, it could cause more problems than it solves if it leads to an uncontrolled descent or there is a delay in assembling the assistance this might require. My recommendation would be to get the load off by getting whatever body part achieves that on the floor FAST, e.g. drop a leg so they can take their weight. Alternatively, the pressure on a t-k can often be reduced by releasing the hands. Either way, relieving all load is the first step and it must be done without delay. Then, find the cause and rectify it. Of course, it might be better to call a rain check for a while as nerve injury can be cumulative.
Take a typical scenario: During a suspension in a t-k, your new rope bunny says “My right hand feels weird. I think you are on a nerve”. Assuming you just intend to “move the fucking rope up or down”, do you move:
a) The wrist tie?
b) Upper kannuki?
c) Upper wrap?
d) Lower wrap?
Having decided which rope, do you move it:
a) Up?
b) Down?
You need to know the person’s body well enough, get adequate feedback and have sufficient skill to make not only the right decison but also quickly enough. I would be wary about suggesting mid-air adjustments as general advice as even a few seconds can make a difference (see Suspension to nerve damage in 60 seconds). I remain unconvinced that the majority would be able to get it right, every time and in sufficient time. There are too many potentially wrong decisions to me made under that kind of stress and with the clock ticking. The worst downside of the wrong judgenent call could be a permanent or long-lasting injury but what have you gained if you get away with it? A few more minutes suspension time? Is that really worth the risk? What if they move the rope into a worse position? How do we even know it is the rope and not something else? I saw an incident where a quite experienced model injured herself by pressing the bone in the heel of her palm into the radial in the area coloured balck in the header photo, thus trapping the nerve between the two bones, so no amount of rope moving would have helped. In fact, since she was unaware of the problem until after the suspension due to lack of obvious symptoms at the time, so there was nothing that could have prevented it. It only came to light some days later after exhausting other possibilities and discovering by chance that she was tender in that area and pressing the spot aggravated the symptoms.
Here are a couple of instances where delay was a factor in the incident although I can’t think of any where a controlled descent caused any damage.
Our model, MaYa, got injured by an experienced rigger who dicked about making adjustments to a t-k when he was being advised to change the load by taking it on the futo-momo instead. She ended up with a slight radial problem. I firmly believe that had he acted without delay in the manner suggested by both the model and Nina, the outcome would have been better.
My good friend Moonlightshadow wrote this cautionary tale, which highlights the need for speed and also brings up an interesting point about the somewhat neglected problem of misplaced lower wraps:
“While there is a lot of focus on the radial nerve, the ulnar one is at risk when the lower wrap is not corrected positioned (too close to the elbow joint).
The only time I experienced discomfort and the need to come off the ropes was when I was in a side suspension. I had been up for maybe 10 minutes, and everything was fun and fine.
Unfortunately for me, the rigger did not respond appropriately after I requested to be taken down immediately because I felt unwanted and unpleasant sensations in my upper arm. I had to wait a several minutes, something I now know is unacceptable. It took me nearly 2 weeks to recover full sensation and mobility in my fingers.
That was a good 6 years ago. Since then, I have learnt more about nerve position, and I can easily find the 2 areas corresponding to the ulnar and radial nerve on my arm when in a T-K position (applying pressure on them causes tingling and moderate pain in the corresponding fingers). It looks like the upper wraps may have compressed my radial nerve while the lower wraps may have compressed the ulnar nerve.
It was OK during the suspension, because I was moving a lot (I’m the only blurry bunny in the photo which was taken then, part of a group suspension); I assume this kept changing the amount of pressure and the area where it occurred, but when I stopped moving, that circumstantial protection disappeared and I think the damage really began when I was hanging motionless waiting to be untied.
So much for the self-appointed “sensei” whom I stupidly trusted to know what he was doing…”
Personally, with anyone other than one of my regular models, I would prefer to err on the side of caution and not make mid-air adjustments. I consider I know my models well-enough to make such adjustments where feasible but if the improvement was not immediate, I’d put them down and not wait up to 30 secs.
Furthermore, it should be considered what effect trying to move a rope under load might have if one ends up dragging it rather than lifting it completely clear. How easy would it be to adjust the wraps on the arm nearest the ground in a sideways suspension without dragging the rope and possibly causing addditional trauma?
In some more extreme orientations, moving the rope might have very undesireable consequences. For example, in a vertical suspension, moving the upper wrap up might be disasterous! The shoulders narrow, thus the rope will become slacker, so you could end up with the wraps disappearing upwards over the bunny’s shoulders. Perhaps another reason not to suggest this as the first remedial method, especially to newcomers to suspension?
Many comments were made supporting my view that avoiding nerve injury was not as simple as just moving the ropes, especially in suspension where the extra load is more likely to cause problems:
“As far as avoiding nerve damage by shifting the rope: I believe that with enough skill, it’s possible to somewhat reduce the likelihood of nerve damage that way. But if some degree of impingement is already occurring, my strong inclination would be to untie and take a break. We know that nerve damage is frequently a cumulative process, and it seems likely that if someone is sensing a problem, they’ve already suffered some sub-clinical damage that puts them at greatly increased risk of more serious injury.”
“No matter what we do, if we do our best to mitigate, as Esinem suggested in the OP, there are limits to what can be done, once a rope is in place and secured.”
“In most floor or partial suspension situations, yes this often a good remedy. In full suspensions it can be difficult, so it would depend on a lot of factors such as skill, position, weight of the model, etc.
Avoiding problems by prevention is always better than a cure. The takate-kote is one of the most misunderstood ties around. As Scott, a respected Australian teacher, says “There is a lot going on in a properly constructed TK” and as another friend said “The best way I have to describe this tie is a ‘mille feuilles’, layer after layer of sheer detail. I have read many posts about the dangers of the TK, is it just possible that many are simply badly tied ? How many have learned to tie it and started using it for suspension straight away, without ensuring it was properly done ? I did, and it took me a while to really appreciate the complexity of this tie and how badly I was tying it completely oblivious to how bad it really was…I was just lucky, the one nerve damage I caused was over in 20 min.”
Firstly, it is spoken of as a single tie, yet it has many variations, each having its merits and limitations. It is essential to be aware when and where these versions can be used. Looking at photos, one will see some that are only designed for floor-work or wrap placement that might be inappropriate for suspension. It’s horses for courses, so use the right tool for the job. Another issue is that relatively few people take the trouble to learn it proficiently or practice it rigorously enough. The former is not always their fault as quite often the teacher doesn’t know much beyond the steps required to tie the shape, even assuming it is based on a tried and tested formula like the Akechi derived forms used by Osada and Kinoko. In many cases, they are teaching a bastardised or reverse engineered version that ignores the techicalities fundamental to satisfactory functionality. The problem is, if you don’t know what there is to know, how do you know if you have been taught it? I certainly fell into this trap myself when I started experimenting with the tie based on what I had seen people doing and picked up from the main English language references avaialble. It was only after receiving professional teaching in Japan that I started to have to vaugest understanding. I’m still finding out things and realise there is still much to be learned. What is even more humbling is that people of the calibre of Osada Steve and Kinoko say they same. I always try to bear in mind that not so very long ago one would have been considered a madman, if not a heretic, for suggesting that the world was not flat. I have a feeling there might be a few myths concerning the t-k that might yet be exploded.
In summary, the safest solution is to immediately reduce load on the tie unless you are absolutley certain you can relieve the issue instantly without creating additional trauma or putting the integrity of the tie in jeopardy. I’d prefer not to gamble on my partner’s safety when the win is so small and the potential loss so high. Put ’em down, then sort it out!