According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, more than 2,000 people go missing throughout the U.S. every day. Many of those innocent individuals are taken from the very neighborhoods they grew up in. While 57 percent of all missing-persons cases end on somewhat good notes, 43 percent do not.
We’ve all heard the horror stories of people being tied up with rope or zip ties as captors transport them to some secondary, unknown location. Knowing how to free yourself from those bonds might make all the difference in a pinch.
Well, former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson, author of 100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative’s Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation, wants to teach you how to get free.
In the event that you’re being kidnapped and the captors are tying up your hands, it’s good practice to force your hands open and spread your fingers out as widely as possible. This makes your wrists bulky. That way, when you ball up your hands into fists later, making your wrists narrow, you’ll create a tiny bit of wiggle room.
If the restraints are indeed strapped down onto your wrist, you’ll want to widen out our elbows and, with great force, pull your hands toward your rib cage. In theory, this turns your body into a wedge and the sudden force will, hopefully, free you.
This typically works best if you’re bound together by duct tape or zip ties.
If ripping the bonds apart isn’t an option, look for points of friction within a close proximity. A loose screw or corner of a wall can serve as a useful tool in a pinch. Rub your bonds against these points to wear them down.
Also consider taking a deep breath or flexing your muscles as captors tie material around your torso, arms, or legs. This will increase blood flow to the area, causing it to grow in size temporarily. Later on, the fluid build-up will egress, making the bound areas narrower. When those body parts slim down, you’ll gain a little bit of slack to help you wiggle out of restraints.
Most people don’t count of being kidnapped, but it never hurts to be ready. Emerson suggests hiding a razor blade or a handcuff in your sock in the event that the worst happens.