The Pitchside Airway

Most pitchside airways are managed with position, a jaw thrust or head tilt and chin lift, clearing what you can see and suction, before any device is needed.

The airway ladder most people learn starts with the tongue falling back and climbs towards devices a pitchside clinician may never use. On a pitch, the common problems include a mouthguard, a mouthful of blood, a broken tooth or vomit, and an oropharyngeal airway fixes none of them.

The airway within the primary survey is on Assessing the Collapsed Athlete, and the conflict between the airway and the cervical spine on On-Field Cervical Spine Immobilisation. Whether any of this kit belongs in your bag, and whether you should use it, is on The Pitchside Medical Bag.