You probably go about your daily business with minimal or no personal threat at all. However, it helps to be prepared for any potentially dangerous situations. If you are being attacked, you want to know how to escape being tied to a pole (whether it’s due to military conflict, kidnapping while traveling, or home invasion). Generally, when restrained, you must remain calm and focus on freeing yourself from the bindings.
You’ll need this video as it shows how you can tense your muscles.
How to escape being tied to a pole
Getting tied up to a pole can happen in real-life abduction/hostage-taking scenarios, so it helps to familiarize yourself with the techniques below to escape:
1. Use your body to prevent a tighter binding
Looser bindings to a pole make it easier to escape. Thus, you want to prevent being tightly tied to it. If your wrists are being tied in front, hold your knuckles (both hands) together while pulling your hands towards your chest. This gesture will seem like you’re being cooperative but will help you create space between your wrists.
Alternatively, try offering your hands for tying with both of your wrists crossed in front of you. While the rope is being tightened, try rotating your lower wrist about 45 degrees. This will make it such that once the rope is tight, you will simply straighten your wrist to loosen it.
2. Distract them with noise
Make as much noise as possible if you’re being held captive. Per The Prepared, the general advice is to scream, attack, and escape. With enough fuss, the attacker might disengage. Try yelling, even if you are not in pain. Express your discomfort, and let tears flow if possible. It’s also recommended to try engaging in conversation with your captors to make it tougher for them to tighten the bindings to the pole.
3. Be a bit resistive
While distracting them, you also want to make it difficult to get tied to the pole. It’s possible that the person is not an expert in tying knots or restraining someone. The average person without proper training, such as someone experienced in working with livestock, may not do a proper job. Thus, if you struggle, resist, and be physically tough, it becomes more difficult for the person to tie you to the pole.
4. Tense all your muscles
While being tied, tense all your muscles to help in your escape, especially if more than just your wrists or ankles are being tied. In this case, the rope is now tying your muscles, which take up more space and make your body larger. When the person leaves, you simply relax your muscles so that your body shrinks slightly for the rope to loosen and provide space for you to free yourself.
Artists use this technique a lot for escape artists since it allows the rope to be slightly looser once your muscles are relaxed.
If the rope is being tied around your chest to a pole, take a deep breath to fully expand your lungs. You will then slip out of the rope from the loose space created when you exhale.
5. Begin your escape
Once your captor turns their back or exits, turn your wrists back and forth to loosen the rope. If possible, use your teeth to pull on one strand of the rope to loosen it so you can wriggle out of it.
Read also: how veterans still go AWOL
However, if your hands are tied to your torso or sides, simply wiggle your hands to a narrower part of your body – it can be directly in front of you. This will loosen the rope for you to slip out.
If your arms have been tied to your stomach, chest, or torso, just bend one arm upwards and try lifting the bonds. If the rope is loose, you may be able to slip it off over your head.
6. Sever the ropes around your wrists
Try severing the ropes around your wrists. Your hands are important when untying the ropes on other parts of your body, so begin by freeing them. You can cut rope through the pole’s friction. Find a hard area and rub the binding rope against it, such as an exposed corner or edge to cut the rope.
If you’re alone, find a sharp object like a knife or scissors blade to cut the ropes while your hands are tied. Be careful not to harm yourself. Even a key or a pocket knife in your pocket may be able to cut the rope, so try retrieving it.
7. Free your feet and legs
Before freeing your feet and legs, try removing your shoes to make it easier for you to slip out of the ropes (if you are wearing socks).
If you can’t free your hands, it helps to try freeing your feet first. Check if the ropes around your feet are loose enough to wriggle out of. Otherwise, try bending over and untying the knot with your teeth. Once you are able to free your feet, use your hands to pull the ropes around your legs down and over your feet.
8. Have an escape plan
Carefully decide on an escape plan if you are being held captive. Do not act impulsively by immediately running out the door once you are free. Instead, wait for the right time to escape. Go for the escape when your captor is distracted or has left the room.
If there is a risk of being pursued, you will have to blend in with your surroundings or find a place to hide. You can arm yourself with a tough object such as a piece of rebar for self-defense.
9. Report to the police
Ultimately, gather any relevant information about your captors, such as their physical features, tattoos, scars, and voice characteristics. This information can be valuable for local authorities to track them down.
Read also: legal steps to put anyone under citizens arrest
