Originally Posted by Red Herring

Just remember that older people are more fragile than you think. The last person I did CPR on ended up with several broken ribs, fortunately he survived long enough to thank me (not for the broken ribs).

The alternative to mouth to mouth is to use chest extensions rather than compressions. If you imagine kneeling behind their head (they're on their back) and then pulling their arms out from their waist area out and up to behind your shoulders that sort of extends their chest inducing the lungs to expand. It's nowhere as efficient as mouth to mouth but if injury makes that impossible (extensive face injury) then it's the next best thing.