Even if you aren’t military or a first responder, you have probably heard about tourniquets especially in most recent times. A tourniquet is a device which applies pressure to a limb in order to severely limit the flow of blood. The most common type of tourniquet is a Combat Application Tourniquet (CAT for short) which was developed by Ted Westmoreland and has been utilized by most militaries and several emergency services around the world. With that said, tourniquets have been around and documented since as early as 1674 when it was used on battlefields. They have easily picked up in popularity due to the success of their deployments in most recent conflicts.
When should tourniquets be applied?
There are really two scenarios where a tourniquet should be used:
- The bleeding cannot be stopped with direct pressure
- Direct pressure cannot be maintained (even if it appears to be working)
Both scenarios are exactly what tourniquets are designed to handle and literally there only purpose. I recommend that any scenario where you have bleeding that is appears to be flowing steadily, you apply a tourniquet.
But I’m just your average Joe or Jane, why do I need this?
There are many situations where a tourniquet can be applied in civilian life such as a work place accident or motor vehicle collision. The bottom line is, tourniquets are extremely effective at preventing and slowing down bleeding, better than anything else in a first aid kit and that is why you should have one. The old way of thinking was that civilians had time to get assistance and did not need to worry about the flow of bleeding but this is false. Especially when you factor in that a decent CAT tourniquet is $40-50, that’s cheap insurance to save your life or the life of a loved one.
In fact, if you’re going to carry any type of first aid measures in your vehicle, make it a tourniquet.
See how to apply a tourniquet here.
Smooth