Electro Play - Safe or not?
First, I have been a paramedic for 30 years, and I am a medical educator, hold a position as an
adjunct professor at a major medical school, and teach cardiology to paramedic students. I have
never attended a patient who died from electrical play; however, that does not mean that it's
completely safe. I will attempt to give some basic thoughts about the dangers here.
The major dangers from electrical play are (1) interference with cardiac activity and (2) burns
from excessive power levels. A TENS unit cannot deliver enough power to burn the skin.
It can deliver enough power to upset the heart's electrical cycle given the right circumstances. I
emphasize THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES.
There are other electrical devices that some play with, including magnetos that can deliver much
higher voltage than a TENS unit. I won't get into the physics of electricity, but it's amperes that
kill, not volts.
A cardiac defibrillator delivers up to 360 milliamps (joules) with a shock. This is sufficient to
depolarize all heart cells at the same time and cause asystole. That is the purpose of a shock
when a patient is in ventricular fibrillation. Once all electrical activity stops, if the heart has
sufficient functioning natural pacemaker cells left, a natural pacemaker will start up and begin to
depolarize the heart again, on a regular and organized level. That is the theory of defibrillation.
The major risk with any sort of electrical current applied in a place where the current enters
mycardial cells is that a depolarization will occur at the wrong time, setting off a disorganized
rhythm called ventricular fibrillation. I can't go much further into this because there are books
written on it, and it can't be distilled much more than this, but suffice it to say that there are
some periods in the electrical cardiac cycle where the heart is in a state between depolarization
and repolarization, where an electrical impulse can set off a chaotic rhythm, called ventricular
fibrillation.
It would be rare for all the circumstances to fall into place for this to happen, but it is quite
possible. If that happens, unless one has a defibrillator at hand, the patient is quite likely to die.
A dungeon is not the right place for this to happen.
When medical defibrillation is done, electrodes are placed in two places, and electrical current is
sent through the heart. A TENS unit could, theoretically, effect a defibrillation if its electrodes
were placed in exactly the right locations, and the impulse entered the heart at the exact
vulnerable period electrically, resulting in ventricular fibrillation.
A similar situation can occur when one is hit in the chest by either a thrown or batted baseball.
Such an impact can cause a spontaneous electrical discharge in normal heart tissue, and if it
happens at the exactly right time, it will produce cardiac arrest. This is called Commotio
Cordis. Google it and read about it.
So are there risks from using a TENS on the chest? I believe that there are. For example, if one
places one electrode on one nipple and the other on the other nipple, current is flowing over the
heart. It is possible for this current to interfere with the heart's normal electrical function.
Now, if one uses the commercially available nipple electrodes where the positive and negative
are placed only on the nipple, I don't see a problem. It would be highly unlikely for the heart to
receive a sufficient amount of current to cause a defibrillation and a resulting dysrhythmia.
I think the bottom line is to think about just how important it is for us to achieve certain
responses from our playmate. It is tempting to put TENS electrodes on the pecs, especially if
the boy has great pecs, and cause them to contract. But is it safe? Probably 90% safe, but who
wants to be the cause of death in the other 10%?
As to placement on the neck, there is only one problem I can see. Cranial Nerve X, the Vagus
nerve, innervates the pacemaker sites in the heart, and it runs down each side of the neck. I
theorize that electrical stimulation of the Vagus nerve might result in a disruption of the heart's
normal rhythm, since vagal stimulation causes the heart to slow down.
I think the trouble with the studies cited by Dr. Dick Tease is that they did not address these
problems specifically. I have not read them, but I probably will read some of them, and I thank
him for posting them. I intend to copy them for future reference. I will state that when one
reads a medical research study, one must carefully filter out what it actually says and what it
doesn't say. People tend to extrapolate from studies and draw conclusions that are not
warranted. A perusal of the list fails to show that any of these studies have addressed the
problem that I am attempting to describe, and that is the effect of TENS electrical stimulation on
the cardiac electrical cycle. I only see one study that mentions anything relative to cardiac
response, and that is one that says in the title it deals with angina pectoris, a completely different
subject from interference with the cardiac electrical cycle.
I can see no contraindications for use of TENS or other forms of electrical play below the waist,
and that is the general recommendation from the tops I know who play electrically. There is
surely enough to do below the waist that it's not really necessary to play above the waist. But
that's just my thought.
I have had just about everything done to me below the waist, including magneto play and cattle
prods, and I loved all of it and am obviously still alive.
Playing safe is the paramount consideration. If a bottom goes into cardiac arrest in somebody's
dungeon, bad things happen. I applaud Dr. Dick Tease for addressing this issue. However, I am
not sure that the studies he cites are pertinent to the subject of dangers of TENS to the heart.
Gentlemen, boys, and slaves,
The following email arrived and I thought the writer's words were worth reading if you are at all
interested in electrical work. The writer belongs to a group different than The Leather Room,
but you can contact him directly if you have an interest.
False warnings about "dangerous" work have never been a topic of conversation here in The
Leather Room, but I couldn't help empathize with the writer, since I have encountered, as I am
sure we all have at one time or another, self-important "do-gooders" who feel they have a
mission to tell the rest of us how to live our lives.
Anyway, if you are not interested in electrical play, you can just delete this message. If you are,
or if you are a sponsor of bdsm events in which electrical work is a regular activity, then you
might want to follow this thread.
Over the years, I've seen a lot of post from ill-informed or prejudiced guys and dreamers,
warning about the dangers of bdsm play. Apart from stories and tales of their own accidents
(which suggest they are incompetent rather than well informed.) Not one has ever produced a
single shred of evidence to substantiate their claim. I've been banned from groups because of my
protest that idiots are scaremongering. It's always been my belief that if you're going to post
scaremongering messages at least be responsible and honest. Honesty has always been lacking
in scaremongers post and that has made me extremely angry. It's always been difficult to be gay.
it's been even more difficult to be gay with a kink or fetish, but things have been getting better
over recent years so the last thing we need is people to put the scene back because of their
untruths and misinformation.
They speak with such authority that they are even able to convince themselves that they know
what they are talking about. But they forget the old adage.
He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, he is a fool, shun him.
He who knows and knows that he knows, he is a wise man, follow him.
Recently, I've seen a thread on a forum about demonstration models needed for a club scene
which involves electro play. Of course the usual scare-mongers are posting their "DANGER -
Don't Touch With a Barge Pole" messages.
But finally someone who has taken his time and done his research has responded, and
challenged those self proclaimed do-gooders. I have his written permission to use his words,
although bear in mind that I've kept his post intact only so I'm not accused of cutting and editing
his words to suit myself.
When I gave the reason for wanting to use the guys words, this was his reply
This syndrome has dogged me all my life Rob. Like you, Iv'e run events and groups that
have been attacked for "dangerous" and "unproven" practices that in reality have been used for
decades. What I've concluded is that in ninety percent of cases it's from people who simply
dislike the event or the people involved. They simply resort to scaremongering because it's all
they have.
Be assured if anyone wishes to criticise and add their views then I will be happy to pass them on
to the original poster.
Available now at Bound Gods: The Battle of the Pain Sluts - Live Shoot
In this Bound Gods Live Show, it's a battle of the pain pigs as Master Avery and Van put Chad Rock, Scratch, and Chad Brock through the paces.The competition begins with the sub's ass hooks tied to weighted buckets that they must hold out right. Drop the buckets and the ass hooks slide even deeper into their holes as Master Avery tests them with the flogger. Electricity is a well known adversary of Chad Rock and the taser causes him to lose the challenge, earning all three boys a hard paddling. Next tied to wooden posts each boy is flogged, belted, and single tailed. Chad's torment is furthered by use of the cattle prod. The members make the call and decide that Scratch earns the victory fuck for taking Avery's belt so well and Van and Avery both cum all over him.