Food or small objects can cause choking if they get caught in your throat and block your airway. This keeps oxygen from getting to your lungs and brain. If your brain goes without oxygen for more than four minutes, you could have brain damage or die.

If a person is clutching his or her throat with both hands, he or she is making the universal sign for choking. If the person can cough or talk, encourage him or her to continue coughing. Once the victim can no longer talk or cough, you must clear the obstructed airway. To clear the obstructed airway that causes choking, you must perform the Heimlich maneuver, also known as abdominal thrusts. Stand behind the conscious choking adult, wrapping your arms around his or her waist.

Physical and developmental factors put children at risk for choking. Children who choke run the risk of death, permanent brain damage caused by lack of oxygen, or other complications associated with airway blockage. In 2001, thousands of children were treated in U.S. emergency departments for nonfatal choking episodes. CDC recently published findings from a study that examined nonfatal choking episodes among children in the United States.

Causes

Choking is most common in children. A marble, button or food may get in the air passage and cause blockage. In adults too, food may go down the wrong way (go into the windpipe instead of food pipe) and cause choking. The danger of choking increases if the person has been drinking alcohol and becomes careless about chewing food well.

Symptoms

Clutching the throat: The natural response to choking is to grab the throat with one or both hands. This is the universal choking sign and a way of telling people around you that you are choking.

Turning blue: Cyanosis, a blue coloring to the skin, can be seen earliest around the face, lips, and fingernail beds. You may see this, but other critical choking signs would appear first.

Choking Treatment

The treatment for a choking person who begins to turn blue or stops breathing varies with the person's age. In adults and children older than one year of age, abdominal thrusts (formerly referred to as the "Heimlich maneuver") should be attempted. This is a thrust that creates an artificial cough. It may be forceful enough to clear the airway.

If the victim is choking on popcorn: stand behind the victim and wrap your arms around his waist. Place your fist with the thumb side against the victim's abdomen slightly above the navel and below the rib cage. Grasp your fist with your other hand and pull it into the victim's abdomen with a quick upward thrust. Repeat the movement several times if necessary.

Many members of the public associate abdominal thrusts, also known as the 'Heimlich Maneuver' with the correct procedure for choking, which is partly due to the widespread use of this technique in movies, which in turn was based on the widespread adoption of this technique in the USA at the time, although it also produced easy material for writers to create comedy effect.