Our county CERT team does tourniquet training classes here for anyone who signs up. It's a great class.

I put a TQ on a gunshot victim with arterial leg bleeding last year. It stopped the bleeding almost instantly and he perked right up. He went from :"oh my god I'm going to die, I'm sorry for what I did, Oh lord, forgive me" to "I don't know nuthin, I dont have to talk to the police" in under 20 seconds.

So anyway, they work pretty good on extremity bleeding, they are cheap and the training is not extensive.

quote:

Originally posted by 1flynDO:
You can loosen a TQ.

That is good to know as a “never say never” concept, but what is the purpose, and is it something that the average non-medical practitioner should be thinking about? The original idea behind loosening a tourniquet periodically was to avoid tissue damage/death, but that’s obviously not the reason for the procedure you describe—or is it? If the second TQ is placed closer to the injury is the purpose to minimize the tissue that’s affected by the loss of circulation?

You are correct. Minimize tissue and nerve damage. You can loosen a TQ to temporarily restore flow past the injury and help keep tissue and nerves alive. Only someone who is skilled in doing this and only for a few seconds.

Once you place the one closer to the injury then you can loosen the one closer to the body 1/4 turn at a time to insure you still have control of the bleed. I would loosen it all the way if possible but still leave it in place in case things change.

When you go to the OR there is a huge build up of waste products and lactic acid washout when you pop it off. Can cause all kind of fun games ask me how I know. So the less area involved the better.

Okay, thanks for the explanation. Something else to be aware of.

I always have one or two with me at a range match. Just never know when you're going to need it.