Hands-Only CPR

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Know When to Use Your Hands

Why chest only?
Chest compressions keep oxygen-rich blood circulating when the heart unexpectedly stops pumping. Most cardiac arrests happen because of an abnormal electrical signal within the heart.
           
Hands-only CPR is recommended only when you see another adult suddenly collapse.

It should not be used on:
- children
- someone you did not see collapse
- someone choking
- near-drowning victims

“A lack of oxygen isn’t usually the reason that these people are unconscious,” says Jerry Potts, Ph.D., AHA’s director of science for emergency cardiovascular care programs. Heart victims generally were breathing right up to when they collapsed and have more oxygen built up in their tissues and body. They just need a heartbeat—something you can give them by using CPR.

The key, Potts says, is to not be afraid to at least try.

Hands-only CPR:

• Call 911.
• Push hard and fast in the center of the chest until help arrives.

Adult CPR