In medicine, certain manoeuvres are established so deeply that they are dogmatically passed on from generation to generation of physicians and rewritten in textbooks without being questioned. A particularly good example is cricoid pressure (CP), used to prevent gastric regurgitation and aspiration during rapid sequence induction and intubation (RSII). Originally described by Arthur Sellick ( Sellick manoeuvre) in 1961,1 it was dogmatically applied over the decades, although literature to support its use is scarce. Its longevity is largely based on its convincingly simple, mechanistic rationale: backward force applied to the ring-shaped cricoid cartilage occludes the dorsally located oesophagus, thereby presumably preventing gastro-pharyngeal reflux. Although …