Swallowing Swords

A few weeks ago I went to see the Coney Island Freak Show. I could have taken a little more freak, but it was a good time. I started thinking, how does one swallow a sword. In my Western Anatomy 2 class a week ago, I questioned my professor how this is possible, since we were talking about the innerworkings of the digestion tract. He was unaware of the answer, but took my question well. So, I decided today to look up how one can swallow a sword. Here is what I found...

When a performer swallows a sword, it takes the same path that swallowed food does, but the process is significantly different.

Swallowing food involves the contraction of several muscles. Sword swallowing, on the other hand, requires deliberate relaxation of the upper GI tract. Here's what happens:

1. The performer tips his head back, hyper-extending his neck, to align the mouth with the esophagus and straighten the pharynx.
2. He consciously moves his tongue out of the way and relaxes his throat.
3. He aligns the sword with his GI tract and moves it through his mouth, pharynx and upper esophageal sphincter and into his esophagus. The performer's saliva lubricates the sword. Some performers use additional lubricant, like vegetable oil or jelly.
4. On its way down, the sword straightens out the curves of the esophagus. It passes by numerous organs - in some cases, it actually nudges them out of the way.

The Sword Swallowers Association International (SSAI) defines a sword swallower as a person who can swallow a 15-inch (38-centimeter) sword, which wouldn't necessarily enter the stomach. The SSAI's maximum recommended length for a swallowed sword is 24 inches (61 centimeters), which would put the tip of the sword well into the performer's stomach[Source: swordswallow.com].

The best part of the whole show...at the end, when the snake sudductress goes to walk on glass, she tells us the story of how she is "trying to quit drinking" (the show being based on newyearsresolutions, before each performance they gave a resolution). She does so by her performance on the broken glass. If she bleeds, no drink. If no blood, she gets to drink. Of course, no blood, right? Well, she picks her feet up, and there was blood! I think I may have been the only one to see it, when she asked the crowd they cheered, and she tilted her head and glass back! It was good.