Nerve safety for rope bondage

4 Sept

Our bodies are filled with nerves. It’s difficult to tie one up without crossing some of them. Rope bondage always carries a risk of damaging nerves, no matter if you tie on the floor or in air.

Sure, suspensions add more pressure on the body and nerves, which increases the risk of nerve damage. One of the most common ways for damaging nerves is tying the wrists together too tightly and forgetting to check them while focusing on other activities.

Ropes and nerves

Nerves are cable-like fibers that go through our body, carrying electric impulses. They are responsible for our sensory or motor functions or both of these things. Nerves are protected by protective layers.

Rope might cause damage to the nerve or the surface protecting the nerve, straining the nerve itself or shearing it in torsion. These might result as a loss of sensation in the skin, nerve pain or loss of motor functions. The most common nerve damages are temporary, lasting from a few hours to a few weeks. If the nerve or its protective layer is partially damaged, it takes a longer time to heal and the worst kinds of nerve damage might even require surgery.

These kinds of charts of nerve placements are great guides, but it’s good to remember that placements of nerves vary 10–15% within the population. Most motoric function losses happen by damaging the radial nerve, which goes through the back of the neck to the armpit, outside of the elbow and inside the arm towards the wrist. It might cause a wrist drop, which prevents you from lifting things with your hand or pinching your fingers around objects. Other sensitive places are joints, neck and wrists.

How to prevent nerve damages

Tie the ropes on the same area with equal tension, so the weight is distributed evenly on a larger area of skin. If the tension is uneven, some wraps are taking all the weight and others none.
Using extra wraps might help to distribute the pressure better on the skin.
Don’t tie the wrists too tightly. Placements towards the elbow are safer than ones closer to the wrists.
Do nerve checks. (Later in this article, we’ll tell you how.) If you get tied, learn how to do them yourself. If you tie, teach your bottom(s) how to do them.
Listen to your bottom, they’re the best expert of their own body. Adjust ropes based on the knowledge of the placement of their nerves. When tying with someone new, ask for feedback.
Be careful when doing suspensions and transitions which might cause ropes to move in a different place or take weight differently than planned. Tying a harness in a different position than where you’re using it, might change the tension of the tie and add more pressure to the nerves.
Figure out the most dangerous places on the body, and be cautious when tying them.
Change positions. Static ties where the bottom stays in same ties in the same position are more dangerous than ties that change more.

How can you tell if the rope is pinching nerves?

Nerve-related problems often cause sensations that are located in a very specific area, for example the end of the finger or small patch over the hand.

Nerve sensations might feel like:
- numbness or loss of sensation
- tickling
- pain
- like bugs crawling on skin
- electricity
- water
- different temperature, hot or cold
Always test both hands and all fingers and compare sensations.
- Do all fingers feel the same?
- Can you still bend your hand backwards?
- Can you make an ok 👌 sign?
You can test sensory checks in legs by flexing your foot or touching it with other foot’s toes.

You can test finding nerves by yourself by pressing your skin tightly and finding out places that hurt more than other areas. These spots are likely to be nerves close to the skin surface.

Always remember that the site of mobility / sensory change is likely not the place where the rope is pinching the nerve.

Also, it’s possible to get nerve damage even without pre-warnings.

Numbness and blood circulation

Not all sensations that rope inflicts on your body are caused by nerves. Tight bondage often also restricts blood flow, which often leads to tickling / numbing sensations. It's a similar feeling to when you rest over your legs or arms, and they start to feel asleep. Numbness related to blood circulation often starts slowly and goes steadily through the limb. Nerve damages are usually very local, focused on small areas.

Problem with numb limbs is that it prevents you from spotting nerve related sensations. It’s always more dangerous to keep doing bondage after a limb is numb. Sometimes numbness might prevent the mobility of a limb, sometimes it doesn’t.

Rope might cause two kinds of blood circulation related issues. It might either slow down blood from getting into or out of the limb. Darkening of the skin usually implies to impaired venous return (difficulty of blood getting back from the limb), which is usually not dangerous if it lasts less than an hour. If the limb loses color and goes cold, it might mean impaired arterial flow (difficulty of blood getting to the limb), which is a more serious case.

Remember to always be careful with numb limbs. A numb limb is more vulnerable for e.g. straining if putting weight on it, if the bottom’s sensory functions on the limb are not functioning properly. Fast untying (for example by cutting the ropes) might cause dizziness or fainting, so untie slowly but steadily.

Nerve damages are cumulative

Unfortunately, nerve damage might happen even without any pre-warning. Nerve damages are cumulative, so a tie might work fine for the first 100 times, but 101st time causes a wrist drop. Also, previous nerve damage increases the risk of the same nerve damaging again.

What adds a risk to a nerve damage?

Previous nerve damages
No “cushion” around nerves (bodies with less fat tissue)
Some diseases, like diabetes, lupus, MS, kidney diseases
Alcoholism, unhealthy diet, vitamin shortages on the body. Taking extra B12 vitamin helps to prevent nerve damage!
Temperature, for example if the room is cold or you’re tying outdoors
Situation, for example if there’s
- psychological pressure not to speak up about nerve sensations (e.g. during a performance or photoshoot)
- being in subspace, having endorphins in the body and forgetting to do nerve checks

What to do if there are nerve sensations?

Rigger can try adjusting the rope with hands, changing the tension or position a little bit. If the nerve sensation goes away, the problem is likely to be solved.
If the nerve sensation doesn’t go away, it’s better to start untying. Cutting the ropes might cause blood flow back to the limb too fast. Untie quickly but calmly.
If nerve damage happens, it’s good to negotiate beforehand how you’d like to handle the situation. What if the bottom can’t work or lift groceries?

How to treat a nerve damage:

Some people find help from putting cold in the damaged area.
Regular pain killers (ibuprofen, paracetamol) are fine.
Don’t stretch, push or put pressure on a damaged nerve.
Don’t tie a limb that is under recovery from a nerve damage.
Avoid sauna and cold-water swimming for 24-48 hours after the accident. Later, going to the sauna might help because it increases blood flow.
Unfortunately, usually there’s nothing to do but wait.. If the symptoms won’t improve in 48 hours, it’s wise to consult a doctor.
It’s good to remember that nerve damages are rarely anyone’s fault. Blaming doesn’t help anyone.

Thank you RopeStudy 101 course and Cait / Ropespaced “Hitting the nerve” workshop on Queerope 2021 which were used to write this article.