Introduction

Below is a set of guidelines for people not familiar with being in bondage, how to know if you’re in safe hands and provides you with the information to make an informed decision with your bondage experience.

Bondage is never risk free, even with the most experienced and safety conscious bondage rigger, it is never risk free. There are always risks but if you equip yourself with bondage safety knowledge you are reducing some of that risk. If you work with a skilled safety aware rigger you are significantly reducing that risk. Although it is important to be aware and keep in mind that the risk will NEVER be eliminated.

Everybody is different, what was right for one person can be dangerous for another. It is important you prepare before, communicate during and give feedback afterwards.

This is a guide, when working with an experienced and skilled rigger, if you are both aware of the risks, and act with caution, ties that would be usually advised against can be done in a risk aware responsible way. With an experienced rigger, these rules can be broken, although your rigger should know what rules they are breaking and why they are there to begin with. Don’t be afraid to ask them.

Having good knowledge in anatomy and knowing where rope is not safe will help in making your bondage experience a safer and more pleasant one.

Personality

When working with a rigger I am unfamiliar with, I first talk to them about what their intentions are and what their experience is. Conversing about intentions will get a feel for their attitude towards their rope skills, most skilled riggers will have a good reputation in the community, although reputations alone are not always a 100% reliable way of knowing if they are safe. If they are particularly boastful about how long they have been doing rope, how many people they have tied up and name dropping, please check for references anyway, as a rigger’s own opinion of their rope is almost always pretty damn good; good skill speaks for itself. Years of experience does not mean years of sound and safe bondage, it could simply mean they have been doing it in an unsafe manner for years with lots of people and lots of luck.

Have they any references from people he/she has tied up before? Always ask for references, talk to the people they have tied up and ask what their honest experience was like. Get more then one reference and try and get a reference from an experienced rope bottom. It is always worth asking experienced rope bottoms they have not tied up, and asking for any possible reasons why this is and would they give an honest opinion of their bondage.

Anatomy

The second question I would ask is where are the danger /vulnerable areas for rope on the body? If you are going to ask this question, you need to be familiar with the answers. The immediately obvious ones are the wrists, if someone ties you in a box tie your wrists should face each other as the vulnerable area is on the inside of the wrists. If your wrists are facing each other the rope will go around the outside of the wrists and protect these vulnerable areas.It is important to know that there are not always warning signs for nerve damage, when you get symptoms it is too late. You will get symptoms for circulation problems long before there is any danger. Nerve damage can also be cumulative, if you are playing or working with the same rigger over time and they are doing unsafe bondage with you repeatedly. It might be someone else who ties you up that sees the result of this nerve damage. This is why it is important for you to protect yourself with good knowledge of your anatomy.

Rope should not be tied with a knot that allows the rope to tighten around your wrists, and you should have space between the rope and your wrist for movement.

We can see the in the first image(f1), the rope is close to the hand over the wrist joint, right in the groove of the wrist, this is not safe as the radial and ulnar nerves are vulnerable in this groove. This is the one of the most common causes for loss of sensation in the fingers (a handcuf neuropathy).

If we look at the second image(f2), we can see the rope is further down the arm, it is no longer on the hand side of the wrist joint, but on the more protected side. The rope is safer here and reduces the risk of nerve problems.

Rope placed on the hand side of the wrist joint where this can lead to a handcuff neuropathy

Which brings me on to the next danger area, the upper arms; the two areas of concern are the radial nerve in the upper arm and underneath the arm pit. If you feel your upper arm along the outside you will feel a valley between the deltoid and the triceps muscles in your arm. The rope should avoid this area and immediately below it and in a box tie the wraps should lie either side of it or below, missing it completely. This valley will be different for most people and your rigger will need to feel your arm to locate where the valley is on you. See the image(f3) for an example of a box tie and the wraps missing this valley.

Rope placed in the strongest part of the wrist

Rope placement will vary depending on the physiology of the person tied. This image is for illustration only.

Arms are not tied into every chest harness and your arms may be free, while this can be done safely, it is important that there is no rope with pressure pulling into the arm pit, as this is the direct path of the axillary nerve. Make sure there are no knots going under your arm pits, no rope joins or bulges as this will increase the mass of pressure and increase risk of nerve problems.

This then brings us up to the neck, where we have the Carotid Artery, it is dangerous to have pressure on this part of the body as it can cut off circulation to the brain and you may loose consciousness.

Loosing consciousness while in suspension is particularly dangerous, as you will turn to dead weight. Rope digging into the side of your neck should be avoided especially during suspension, as this can cause injury and restrict blood flow. Please see the image(f4), illustrating the rope digging in. Below you will see the rope avoiding digging into the neck. Supporting lines of rope should be avoided in this area.

If you are a model and working with a photographer for a bondage shoot, I would recommend the photographer hire a professional rigger to take care of the bondage while the photographer concentrate on the images. There are very few photographers who can manage both.

Load bearing rope pulling into the sides of the neck. This can restrict blood in numerous vessels and potentially injure the neck.

Rope placed to avoid putting pressure on the side of the neck and with firm (not excessive tension)

Rope placement will vary depending on the physiology of the person tied. This image is for illustration only.

What can you do to improve your experience?

If you have good references from reliable sources and have selected the rigger you want to play/work with responsibly there are a few additional things you can do to make sure your bondage experience is a good one.

Communication

During negotiation stages, be it a scene or photo shoot, it is important for you to disclose any health problems you have that may effect your time in bondage. Breathing, heart, circulation or previous nerve problems, are examples of things to disclose. If you have any movement restrictions, you should discuss this beforehand, or if you have any mental problems that may cause your time in rope to be less enjoyable, these are all things to communicate before you work or play together. If you are in doubt if you should disclose something, disclose it anyway.

Don’t be afraid to communicate during your time in bondage, if it feels wrong tell the rigger. He/She is not a mind reader unfortunately; they don’t know what’s going on in your body. You are not letting anyone down unless you don’t communicate, which is dangerous. Sometimes the smallest adjustment to the rope can make a tie safer and reduce risk significantly.

During play safety comes before protocol and during a photo shoot safety comes before your job. Your safety is paramount, no scene or image is worth permanent nerve damage or being dropped on your head.

If you make your rigger aware when your fingers first go tingly, you are giving them time to react to this.

Stretch

You will not gain extra flexibility or fitness before your scene or photo shoot by stretching, this is something you should do over time, however, stretching before your experience will warm up your muscles, making you more limber and less likely to have a muscle ache. The fitter you are the better your blood flow and longer you will last in rope; particularly stressful rope, you will recover from bruises quicker and will have less breathing restrictions. If it’s possible to get an idea of the position you will be in, you can concentrate on stretching this part of your body as well as general stretching.

Stretching while in bondage and flexing your muscles will help pump the blood around your body, prevent tingling and help prevent muscle ache. If your fingers begin to feel tingly, clenching and unclenching your fist can help with this but communicate what has happened to the rigger.

Body Temperature

Cold temperatures will decrease blood circulation and reduce your time in bondage. Keeping warm between ties and making sure the room you are in is warm will help. If working on location or playing outdoors, avoid extreme temperatures, keep as warm as you can and drink hot fluids if in cold weather and drink plenty of water in warmer temperatures.

Nutrition

Do not skip any meals before bondage and have a sugary drink and some food nearby. Bondage is demanding on the body and uses up a lot of energy, particularly on a photoshoot where you will be in lots of different ties and during dynamic suspensions or prolonged scenes. Drink plenty of water.

Coming undone

When you are being untied, it is tempting to relax and almost slouch your body, the tie is coming to an end and it is natural to relax. Do not drop your wrists if they are bound, dropping your hands scissors them together causing the rope to tighten around your wrists. See the images to the side for an example of dropped wrists(f6), try to keep your arms parallel with one another while in the box tie until you wrists have been released. In the image below and to the right(f7) you will see the wrists and arms in line with the arm, this will reduce potential nerve and circulation problems.

Wrists dropped (scissoring) thereby increasing the

pressure on the wrists and by pulling the tie down increasing the pressure on the arms. The wrists are also turned out meaning that pressure is on the vulnerable inner part of the wrist.

Arms boxed with the vulnerable inner part of the wrists facing each other to protect them. The arms are even and relaxed. The wrist tie has enough space to allow the top and bottom wrists to be swapped if they become uncomfortable.

Bad hand positions

Below are some examples of hand positioning likely to lead to problems. Remember that the inside of the wrist and the side of the wrist toward the hand side of the wrist joint are most vulnerable to pressure induced injury.

This can be avoided by crossing your wrists past each other so the rope lies on the arm side of the wrist joint. Keep your wrists facing each other to protect the vulnerable areas. The wrist tie should have enough room to allow the wrists to be moved and top and bottom arms to be swapped to alleviate discomfort.

 

Wrists turned over top to bottom exposing the inner part of the wrist to maximum pressure from the rope.

Wrists turned putting pressure on the vulnerable inner part of the wrist.

Wrists turned, elbows pushed out. The rope is on the most vulnerable parts of the wrist, the inner side of the wrist and on the outer of the wrist on the hand side of the wrist joint.

All images in this guide are provided for illustration purposes only. Some images have rope placements exaggerated in order to illustrate a point more clearly. They are not intended as a how-to guide for tying. You should not attempt to emulate the images in this guide.

Rope placement will vary depending on the physiology of the person tied.

 

by http://rope-topia.com