Stuart and Aida Nelson Dec 1, 2020:

Anne Thanks very much for this explanation! I do really appreciate it. You live and learn :)

Anne Schulz Dec 1, 2020:

jaw-thrust maneuver A formal term is "(modifizierter) Esmarch-Handgriff", but most people would probably just speak of "Unterkiefer vorschieben". The original Esmarch-Handgriff (as it was taught when I was in med school) involved both tilting the head and pushing on the jaw and opening the mouth. Some people therefore refer to a "modified Esmarch" for the maneuver without head tilt which is preferred today (or, rather, on the verge of loosing the preferred status again ;-) All structures in the neck are interconnected by fascia, and therefore a lower jaw movement also spreads to the cervical spine. (You can feel it a lttle if you put your fingers on the back of your upper cervical spine and move your jaw backwards and forwards.) If worst come to worst, an energetic external push on the lower jaw of an unconscious person (= no protective muscle tone to limit movements) with cervical spinal injury (= loss of structural stability) may therefore bear the risk of moving spinal fragments. This risk may be outweighed by the risk of suffocation, so you may have to do the maneuver - but if you don't have to do it, don't do it (and don't do it for splinting/immobilising the cervical spine ;-)

Stuart and Aida Nelson Nov 29, 2020:

Griff -maneuver It would be very useful to know what would be the translation of 'jaw-thrust maneuver' into German and why this is dangerous in case of cervical injury. However, the question here does not say that there is actually an injury but the suspicion of an injury: Verdacht auf.