Hand positions
The methods described here are widely used. Your choice of hand position will depend on the size of the victim as well as your own body size, strength, personal preference and comfort.
Locate the centre of the chest. Place the heel of your preferred hand on this point. Your fingers should be parallel to the ribs, raised and relaxed, so that all pressure is applied to the victim’s sternum and not to the ribs.
Apply vertical pressure from the shoulders through the heel of the compressing hand. Where possible, try and keep your compressing arm straight and use your body weight as the compressing force to effectively compress to one-third the depth of the chest. This takes less physical effort than trying to use the arm muscles and will be less tiring.
The other hand is placed securely on top of the first. To prevent the top hand slipping (and to avoid ineffective compressions), the fingers and thumb of the upper hand may be locked around the wrist or through the finger gaps of the lower hand.
