Sword swallowing how is it done

It does however, involve special physical and psychological training. Instead, the performer relaxes the throat enough to allow the blade to slide down the esophagus.

In training to be able to do this, the sword swallower learns to introduce different kinds of objects into his throat for extended periods of time, before he moves on to swords or sharp objects.

The blade should go passed the flipped open epiglottis, behind the prominentia laryngea the voice box , past the pharynx, through the cricopharyngeus or upper esophageal sphincter, down the esophagus, and eventually through the lower esophageal sphincter. The blade goes through the diaphragm, past the liver, and to the bottom of the stomach at the duodenum.

Most performers lubricate the sword with saliva, vegetable or olive oil to help the sliding down. What is essential and even more difficult, is the fact that the sword swallowers have to suppress the gag reflex and retch reflex.

This is part of the psychological training they undergo. In order to master the ancient art of sword swallowing, enthusiasts spend years practicing and learning how to wield control over involuntary bodily reflexes. First, sword swallowers have to learn to master their gag reflex. The sword has to pass through the upper esophageal sphincter —the muscles at the top of the esophagus that you use when burping, eating, vomiting, etc.

Then, the sword swallower has to bend their body so that the blade passes around their heart. Also, in , a sword swallower visited Freiburg, Germany, so impressing a local doctor named Keller that he examined the man's throat with a laryngeal mirror.

His colleague, one Dr. Muller, is credited with first suggesting that such acrobats would make terrific subjects for esophagoscopy, because of their ability to voluntarily relax all the muscles in the throat at the same time.

Another colleague, Adolph Kussmaul, actually performed the first successful esophagoscopy on the visiting sword swallower using a rudimentary endoscope basically a straight tube , mirrors, and a gas lamp for illumination.

The results were a bit disappointing because of the poor illumination, but it did lead to further improvements in the technique. A famous sword and snake swallower of the mids, called Sallementro, claimed he learned his art at 17 from a friend; it took him three months. He tried starting with full-sized swords, but discovered "it made my swallow sore, very sore, and I used lemon and sugar to cure it. Knives, he found, were easier than swords because of the shorter length. Snakes proved less tricky, although Sallementro was careful to "cut the stingers out, 'cos it might hurt you.

Unlike swords, snakes are quite helpful to the process, naturally inclined to seek out a dark hole down which to disappear -- unless the swallower coughs too much, in which case the snake seeks to escape back up the hatch. Sallementro said that swallowing snakes "tickles a little, but it don't make you want to retch. Like Sallementro, Witcombe and Meyer's study found that many of the respondents had desensitized their gag reflex by starting with smaller objects and increasing the size over time.

They started with their own fingers, then upgraded to spoons, paint brushes, knitting needles, bent wire coat hangers, and so forth, before attempting short knife blades and, finally, swords. Per Cecil Adams of Straight Dope fame, I learned that Dan Mannix, a retired carnival sword and flame swallower, wrote a memoir of his experiences in , and reported that he definitely threw up the first few times he tried to overcome the involuntary gag reflex.

Then he struggled with getting a sword down his throat because he couldn't Wonder why? Eventually he succeeded, but said that he had to bend forward a bit halfway through the sword's passage to get it past his Adam's apple. He also occasionally struck his own breast bone with the sword, which apparently felt like a blow to the solar plexus, from the inside. Many have emulated Sallementro and figured out that lubricating the blades with saliva or butter made it easier to slide them down their throats, although one admitted to retiring from the sport after developing a chronic "dry mouth" condition.

The sides of the swords aren't sharp, but the tips are, as those who suffered ruptured stomachs with the resulting peritonitis can attest. Adams -- recognizing that there's always someone stupid enough to try this sort of thing at home, despite cautionary words -- recommends wiping the blade before and after swallowing: the first, to remove any dust which could trigger the gag reflex, and afterwards to remove stomach acid, which could corrode the blade's metal.

Neon tubes have an added risk of shattering inside the throat, with seriously disabling and sometimes fatal effects. Jen-Luc Piquant thinks she'll take a pass on participating in this decidedly quirky skill. But those those with a penchant for showy, yet dangerous hobbies like this might want to join Meyer on February 25, when he'll be performing at Ripley's Believe It Or Not! This is an updated version of a post that originally appeared on the archived blog in The views expressed are those of the author s and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Jennifer Ouellette is a science writer who loves to indulge her inner geek by finding quirky connections between physics, popular culture, and the world at large.