PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Caroline Lee AU - Keith M Porter TI - Suspension trauma AID - 10.1136/emj.2007.046391 DP - 2007 Apr 01 TA - Emergency Medicine Journal PG - 237--238 VI - 24 IP - 4 4099 - http://emj.bmj.com/content/24/4/237.short 4100 - http://emj.bmj.com/content/24/4/237.full SO - Emerg Med J2007 Apr 01; 24 AB - Suspension trauma (also known as “harness-induced pathology” or “orthostatic shock while suspended”) is the development of presyncopal symptoms and loss of consciousness if the human body is held motionless in a vertical position for a period of time. It has been described in experiments of personal fall protection, and has been implicated in causes of death in mountaineering accidents, but it seems neither to be widely known about nor to have been presented to the medical profession. This article highlights the potential existence of suspension trauma and suggests that more robust medical research using modern harnesses and healthy volunteers would be beneficial to assess whether this is purely a theoretical risk.