A 2006 article in the
BMJ enumerated the risks:
We excluded cases in which injury was related to swallowing items other
than swords, such as glass, neon tubes, spear guns, or jack hammers...
Thirteen respondents did not volunteer any medical information, but 19
described sore throats, usually when they were learning to swallow,
after performing too frequently, or when they were swallowing multiple
or odd shaped swords. Lower chest pain, often lasting days, followed
some performances and was usually treated by abstaining from practice.
They rarely sought medical advice. Six suffered perforation of the
pharynx or oesophagus. Three of these had surgery to the neck, one
having a 1.5 cm laceration at the level of D2 and a pneumothorax, one a
pinhole laceration at C6 and surgical emphysema, and the other having a
pharyngeal tear. The perforations were treated conservatively in three
patients, one of whom had a second perforation with aspiration of a neck
abscess after further injury. Three others also had probable
perforations, one of whom was told that a sword had “brushed” the heart,
and one had pleurisy and another pericarditis after injury, suggesting
extraoesophageal trauma. No one underwent thoracotomy, although one had a
breadknife removed transabdominally. Sixteen mentioned intestinal
bleeding, varying in quantity from melaena or finding some blood on a
withdrawn sword to large haematemases necessitating transfusion.
More at the link, including observations re the technique:
The gag reflex is desensitised, sometimes by repeatedly putting fingers
down the throat, but other objects are used including spoons, paint
brushes, knitting needles, and plastic tubes before the swallower
commonly progresses to a bent wire coat hanger. The performer must then
learn to align a sword with the upper oesophageal sphincter with the
neck hyper-extended. The next step requires relaxation of the pharynx
and oesophagus and particularly the horizontal fibres of
cricopharyngeus, which are not usually under voluntary control...
For those (few) interested, there is a
Sword Swallowers Association International.
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