Class Follow-Up: Lower Body Harness Variety Pack

This is intended to accompany Shay’s Lower Body Harness class and is not stand-alone material.

Terminology

We will refer to the “tyer” and the “person in rope” or “PIR” – this is to be inclusive of self-tyers and avoid implying a power exchange dynamic of any sort in partnered tying.

Communication and Negotiation

Start with intention. What type of rope will you be doing?
- Further reading
Consent, including specifically discussing areas to touch or avoid.
- Tying lower body harnesses often involves the tyer’s hands being around the genital area. Be sure to explicitly agree on guidelines for this.
Tying over clothing vs. nude
- Clothed vs. underwear vs. fully nude
- Clothing will change the sensation of the rope (this could be for good or for bad, depending on the PIR’s perspective).
- Working with clothing can be challenging for ties that rely on the rope gripping against the skin.
- Leggings:
- Loose fabric is difficult to tie over. If you wear leggings, they should be very snug.
- Fishnets are miserable to tie over IMHO
- Generally best to avoid clothing with embellishments like buttons, zippers, jewels, etc.

Placement and Tension

This is very individual! People’s nerves are in different areas and have different sensitivities and vulnerabilities.
Folks have habituated to different things.
Specifically, consider placement for:
- Waist rope (people tend to have strong feels)
- Hip lines (higher vs. lower placement)
- Leg wraps (up in the groin vs. below)
If unsure of your placement preferences, consider planning a session to experiment with variations.
The way a hanger is attached to a harness will have a major impact on the way the harness loads, whether the bands shift, etc.
Tension is about more than tightness. Consider intention—how do you want the rope to feel?
Tension should be set to the underlying bone and muscle. On areas with more “squish,” rope generally needs to be tighter than on areas with less “squish.”
- I find that the more uncomfortable my lower body harnesses are when I’m on the ground, the more sustainable they are in the air, so I tend to tie them extraordinarily tightly.
  - I am quite squishy on my lower body.
  - I like to be very dynamic, and tight harnesses are less likely to shift under these conditions.
  - I dislike the aesthetic of rope harnesses stretching away from my body

Health Considerations

Further reading on health considerations for bondage here
Especially relevant medical conditions include diabetes, asthma (where is the inhaler, if applicable?), any issues with blood clotting, joint problems, heart conditions, aneurysms, pre-existing nerve damage, fainting/syncope, and seizures.
A good question is: “What medications do you take?”

Wrapping Turns

Up to a certain point, adding extra wraps can dramatically decrease focal pressure and will make your bondage significantly safer and more sustainable.
The force applied in this way can be quantified as pounds per square inch (PSI) (or Pascals), and this factor will make a huge difference in how sustainable (and safe) your bondage is.
There is a point of diminished returns with this calculation. Once you get beyond about three wraps, your payoff decreases, and it also becomes more difficult to maintain uniform tension.

There is a huge decrease in pressure as you go from a single strand to two strands, and from one wrap to two. After three wraps, however, you rapidly reach the point of diminished returns.
**Body Awareness and Habituation**
Differentiating warning signs of actual damage from intense but not dangerous sensations is a crucial skill for being in rope.
Pain is entirely mediated by the brain. Pain is your brain’s somewhat paranoid guess about how much danger you’re in.
Many factors moderate pain response! For example:
Fear or lack of confidence increases pain perception.
Doing something to yourself decreases pain perception. (Studies on college students zapping themselves support this.)
Swearing increases your pain tolerance.
It takes time to build up a tolerance to the “intense sensations” and emotions/fear associated with suspension—your body learns that you felt all the things and then survived, and actually, that was fun!
I talk about this frequently because I wish someone had told me this when I started. My first couple of times up in a hip harness were excruciating, and I needed to come down almost immediately. I thought I was Hopelessly Bad at Suspension. It would have helped me greatly to have someone explain that it’s normal for the brain to sound off like a 5-alarm fire at first! If you want to keep at it, that alarm will slowly diminish as your body learns that you didn’t die, and perhaps it can’t talk you out of your shenanigans, so it’s all right after all.
This is related to the concepts of hedonic reversal and benign masochism, a term coined by scientist Paul Rozin referring to the “enjoyment of negative bodily reactions and feelings in the context of feeling safe, or pleasure at “mind over body.””
In the circus community, this is sometimes called peripheral desensitization.
This is the same process by which people learn to like spicy food (no one is born liking ghost peppers), riding roller coasters, or watching scary movies.
Inventory your body. Is anything tragic happening? Are you being damaged? If not, try to relax into the sensation, breathe, etc.
When continuously exposed to a fixed stimulus, neurons become steadily less sensitive to it until they stop responding. Anything habitually encountered tends toward invisibility—the more we see a thing, the less we see it. This is like putting on a sweater that feels scratchy at first but is no longer noticeable after a few minutes.
You can build a tolerance to spinning—this has been studied! **“It is a defining characteristic of human sensory and motor systems that they habituate with repeated use…**with repeated sessions on a centrifuge, the experienced symptoms of motion sickness become less severe” – *Adapting to Artificial Gravity at High Rotational Speeds*, NASA Astrophysics Data System, 2002.
That quote also makes a great mantra; I use it all the time when I’m in a challenging self-tie.
That said, being picky and thoughtful about what you habituate to is OK. I still haven’t habituated to bent leg ties because I dislike them, which is fine!
Regarding spinning, I have only habituated to counterclockwise spinning. If you turn me clockwise, I will still throw up.

Harness Hang Syndrome, as it were

Concerns about “harness hang syndrome” come up not infrequently when discussing lower body harnesses. While this is definitely a real thing (OSHA talks about it quite a lot), in a bondage context, it is often a red herring in the sense that it is a very narrow niche issue.
- Of note, the term “suspension trauma syndrome” is often preferred, as “it is not really the harness that is at issue.” – Fatal and non-fatal injuries due to suspension trauma syndrome: A systematic review of definition, pathophysiology, and management controversies

In an extremely specific set of circumstances (upright position with the legs fully dependent and immobile), blood pressure can drop and result in syncope. Harnesses that block venous return from the legs may contribute. If a person is left passed out and hanging, this combination of factors rapidly becomes extremely dangerous/deadly (lactic acidosis plays a roll; lots of details here).
This can be prevented by moving the legs/contracting the muscles of the legs and/or by avoiding prolonged upright suspensions with legs in a dependant position. It is one of many really good reasons not to leave someone alone in bondage (or to self-suspend alone) because, of course, if someone passes out in rope, they need to be gotten down to the ground safely and quickly (not left hanging for many minutes, which again, can be deadly).

On My Nerves

While lower-body harnesses tend to be relatively safer than harnesses that involve the arms, nerve damage can happen with lower-body harnesses!
Muscle and fat tend to be protective.
- This statement is based on sources including (not an exhaustive list):
  - Studies on intraoperative positioning and nerve compression injuries
    - “…the risk of lower limb nerve injury was greatest in patients of low BMI” – Peripheral nerve injury arising in anaesthesia practice
    - Blood pressure cuff studies
    - Articles on specific types of compressive nerve injury, such as this one
    - Incidence for other injury modalities, such as: “Nerve injuries were diagnosed in 2.6% of upper extremity trauma patients and 1.2% of lower extremity trauma patients.” – Incidence of Nerve Injury After Extremity Trauma

The legs generally have more muscle and fat than the arms, and are generally less vulnerable to nerve injury. Lower body nerves tend to be less superficial than upper body nerves, and those that are superficial tend to be sensory only.
Very thin and less muscular folks tend to be more vulnerable to nerve injury.

Sensory vs. motor nerve damage

The vast majority of nerve injuries we’ve heard involving lower body harnesses are sensory only, but motor injuries (such as foot drop) are possible in rare cases.
- Damage to the common peroneal nerve, sometimes called “yoga foot drop,” can be caused by: “Pressure from sitting with the knees crossed, from kneeling, or from bizarre postures.” – Journal of the American Medical Association

Consider your risk profile. No one can make decisions about acceptable risks for you.
Nerves won’t be in the same spot on everyone!
Six significant factors contribute to bondage nerve injuries

Individual differences in nerve vulnerability
Anatomical location (where on the body you are tying)
Duration of force

Transitioning or staying still
Longer duration = more risk

Severity and type of force (compression or shearing)

See “wrapping turns” above

Stretch or stress positioning
Environment (internal & external)

Communication (doing checks, coming down if signs of problems)
The temperature of the space (cold temperatures = higher risk)
Anything that alters body awareness (having an audience, other distracting stimulation)

Avoid the joint areas, especially behind the knee.

Case study: PIR in a hip harness hooked their leg around the upline, and their partner tied that ankle to their hair. Compression of the upline behind the knee caused a complete loss of sensation and motor function in the lower leg. They couldn’t walk for a few hours and lost sensation for months.

No matter how experienced everyone involved is, a nerve injury can happen, even without anyone doing anything particularly “wrong.”
Nerve damage is cumulative. Minor injuries may not show symptoms but may make you more vulnerable to future damage.

Lower Body Nerve Overview

This is a very brief overview. For a more detailed description, we recommend the links at the end of this post.

Hips and butt

Specific ties: Hip harnesses (swiss seat, woven harness, gunslinger, etc.), hip line
Nerves involved:

Lateral femoral cutaneous nerve (LFCN) – Anecdotally, this seems to be the most common injury from a hip harness. The LFCN originates directly from the lumbar plexus and is vulnerable where it passes under (or in rare cases over) the inguinal ligament just below the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS). Some people have suggested moving hip wraps higher (still on the iliac crest but above the ASIS) to decrease the risk to the LFCN. No single placement is going to work for everybody. Compression of the LFCN is medically known as “meralgia paresthetica” and can also be caused by tight pants/belts.
Sciatic – The sciatic nerve could be compressed in the gluteal region or even less commonly in the mid-thigh. Anecdotally, this is a rare injury in bondage. However, if you have a history of sciatic nerve issues, this is something to be extra mindful of.
Anterior femoral cutaneous nerve (AFCN) – Risk seems to be higher in a face-down position, especially with the PIR bending at the hips and if the rope is pressing directly on the crease between the thigh and body.
Iliohypogastric and ilioinguinal nerves are also vulnerable below the iliac crest.

Symptoms and assessment:

The LFCN and AFCN are purely sensory. Symptoms include numbness and pain in the thigh (side for LFCN, front of the thigh for AFCN).
Symptoms of sciatic nerve damage include weakness and sensory loss affecting most of the lower leg. Some people also report a sensation of coldness.
Iliohypogastric nerve and ilioinguinal nerve damage cause numbness to the groin, outer labia/genitals, low portion of the torso, and upper thigh.

Legs

Specific ties: Hip harnesses, thigh wraps, futomomo, leg ladder harness
Nerves involved:

Femoral – This nerve descends beneath the inguinal ligament parallel to the LFCN. It may be vulnerable to damage positionally, in a forward-bent (“bow”) or "ebi" position, or when the body/thigh is hyperextended (as in a back-bend-type position). It may also be vulnerable to pressure from a rope at the crease where the thigh meets the trunk, where the nerve is relatively exposed on top of the femoral head. Being in a “face down” position in a hip harness with pressure around the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) and front and top of the thighs at the crease seems to be another riskier position. Some people have suggested moving thigh wraps lower (away from the crease) to potentially decrease risk.
The lateral femoral cutaneous nerve (LFCN) and anterior femoral cutaneous nerve (AFCN) – are more at risk in face-down suspensions or when there are knots/hitches on the front of the thigh/hips.
Superficial peroneal nerve, aka superior/common fibular nerve – Vulnerable as it passes across the fibular neck, on the outside of the leg just below the knee, and at the back of the knee joint. Injury can be caused by direct compression with rope or positionally when legs are crossed at the knees or knees are sharply bent (such as in a futo). Positional injury can also happen in yoga, caused by prolonged lengths of time in a position with the knees sharply bent – this is common enough to be called "yoga foot drop.”
Saphenous nerve – At risk close to the knee or at the knee, where it is close to the surface and poorly protected

Symptoms and assessment:

The femoral nerve – Symptoms include an “itching” sensation and numbness to the inner leg/thigh, especially around the knee.
LFCN and AFCN – Both are purely sensory. Check for numbness on the lateral (outer) thigh for the LFCN front of the thigh for AFCN.
Peroneal/common fibular nerve – numbness along the front of the shin and top of the foot, and "foot drop," where dorsiflexion (flexing) of the foot is compromised, and the foot drags (the toe points) during walking. Per the Journal of the American Medical Association, damage to this nerve can be caused by: “pressure from sitting with the knees crossed, from kneeling, or from bizarre postures.”
Saphenous nerve – Numbness and pain on the inner side of the lower leg.

Feet

Specific ties: ankle cuff, gravity boot, double column, hogtie
Nerves involved:

Deep peroneal nerve – Can be injured by tight wraps around the ankle
The posterior tibial nerve – Can be compressed in the region of the ankles as the nerve passes under the transverse tarsal ligament. Generally, injury is due to inflammation or damage to the surrounding structures and is also known as tarsal tunnel syndrome.

Symptoms and assessment:

Deep peroneal nerve – foot pain, sensory disturbance involving only the web space between digits 1 and 2.
Posterior tibial nerve – Sensory symptoms of the sole, toes, and sometimes heel.

While I certainly acknowledge that lower body harnesses have risks (I just shared a bunch of details about those risks), I also want to say that I do feel some amount of bad faith false equivalency can sometimes occur in these discussions. Considering both the likelihood and severity of injuries, it is my opinion, based on extrapolating from medical research, understanding anatomy, and two decades of looking at informal surveys and case reports in the kink community, that lower body harnesses are less risky for most people most of the time, as compared to upper body harnesses (especially arms-in harnesses). As with most things, there are bell curves with overlap and edge cases, but these risks are not the same.

Further reading: