Rom J Anaesth Intensive Care. 2018 Apr;25(1):7-9. doi:10.21454/rjaic.7518.251.sor.

# Spring recoil and supraglottic airway devices: lessons from the law of conservation of energy.

Sorbello M, Zdravkovic I, Cataldo R, Di Giacinto I

In the Oxford dictionary, recoil is rebound or spring back through force of impact or elasticity, and this term is widely used with particular reference to automatic weapons. In this specific setting, the recoil spring is used to compensate and absorb the bullet force momentum and to convert energy into the activation of a weapon’s reloading system. Based on the principle of energy conservation, this is an example of how we could use for a different (and useful) purpose a simple physical phenomenon.

In this issue of the Romanian Journal of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Corda and co-workers present an interesting paper based on the same conceptual principle: using the physical recoil of a laryngeal mask pilot balloon valve to adjust the mask’s intracuff pressure and keep it within safety levels.