Unforseen Consequences in Rope #1

This is one of the stories I received during my "survey" of rope bondage related issues. I will be posting a few of these this week. It is a simple scenario and not an uncommon one I am sure. I would like to thank those who contributed. For people to talk about and share their experiences, especially those that were not optimal, shows maturity and responsibility and allows others to benefit from them.

" Hi Mark,

Until now I only had to deal with nerve compression once but it was a
bit scary since it wasn't in a place that I had seen discussed before.
It was one of the first times I did bondage and I had tied my
girlfriend into a tight Ebi by doing a basic chest harness and then
tie her feet with a cuff and connect that to the front of the harness.

She's very flexible and didn't complain about any pain or discomfort,
even though additional strain was placed on her body through about 20
minutes straight use of a Hitachi Magic Wand. The whole session lasted
about 1 hour and she was in the Ebi the whole time.

A few hours later she called me that she had lost most feelings in her
knees and lower legs. This lasted for several hours but was gone the
next morning. Meanwhile I've read more about this problem, mostly in
connection with childbirth positions but at that time it was very
confusing for me because the only nerve compressions I'd heard about
were at the wrist or upper arm.

The rope used was 6mm hemp and she was at that time 23 years old. If
you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Regards, XXXX"

This is an interesting story, in that it seems to me that rather than the rope causing a problem directly, it was the body position that caused it. In general, things to consider when doing rope play are, body condition, body position, rope placement, and duration. It must be remembered that these are only physical considerations and other things such as mental and emotional states are just as important but for this discussion we will consider only the body issues.

We can never know ALL of the facts but discussion and analysis can only help our view point and understanding various bondage scenarios and their results.

As most people know the venerable Ebi, is one of the oldest Shibari positions. It involves tying the person sitting cross-legged and bending them forward into a ball-like position. This is similar to its less stringent cousin, the Agura. For a good description and some beautiful pictures of these ties, see Master "K"s, excellent book, Shibari, The Art of Japanese Bondage.

As anyone who has done Yoga or seated meditation knows, as westerners, sitting cross-legged for an extended period can be make the legs go numb. What is interesting here is that the numbness came later. The description does say she gave no complaints at all during the session. This is one of the most common phenomena in bondage problems, that the problem is not evident during the session, only afterwards. This is something we all need to think about and be aware of.

In an Ebi position, especially a tight one, there is a high probability of compression of the sciatic nerves. Another important thing to watch for is positional asphyxia.

What happened here is probably that the muscles deep in the hip, that were loose during the play session, (20 minutes with a Hitachi wand will loosen anyone!)had a rebound contraction or some swelling which caused some pressure on the sciatic nerves or other deep nerve roots in the pelvis. It is also notable that the bottom was 23 years old and when young our bodies tends to bounce back more quickly. Also the duration of the scene in that position is long for the average player. There is a possibility that a shorter time in the position may have mitigated some of the unwanted effects.

Now, rather than go into a deep medical analysis of conditions that we can never get all the information for, to truly find out what happened here, I give this example as view of how varied situations can be.

I look forward to hearing any comments or observations.