I don't either, but I think this is small enough and light enough to carry. If not, one goes in my bail-out pack, hunting pack, and range bag.
would surgical tubing work?
Anything that creates restriction of blood flow will work.
No, it is entirely too flexible to effectively shut down an arterial bleed.
And when you have the training, you don't need to carry one. Field expedients are readily available.
This seems to be another one of those issues, like caliber wars, where the opinions vary pretty widely. Some people seem to think they work much better than trying to use a belt, while others say they're a waste of time. Call me dazed and confused. :blink:
Well I wouldn't say that's 100% accurate but I get where you're going and don't really disagree. And I would also add that I'm no expert on field medicine, advanced first aid or any similar field... Which is one reason why I don't carry one of them or any other advanced first aid supplies. I've had some basic first aid, BLS and AED classes and have enough appreciation for what I've learned to know that there's more that I don't know than what I do.
Yes you can pull your belt off and make a tourniquet But in the moment i don't want to have to make something. I would rather pull one and apply it to stop traumatic bleeding. Its about the right tool for the right job. What about it of you have to use on on yourself? A Cat or a SWAT T is much easier to apply than a belt or strips of shirt that you bit in half. Carrying a a TQ is not just about shootings, or defensive encounters, chances are you more likely to use one if you come across a car accident. The recent course I took the instructor who was EMT and instructor out of Maryland, along with a former IDF Medic, told us that during the Boston bombing people more people were saved because the cops had IFAKs and combat style tourniquets.
Holding WFR cert and trained on how to apply, where to apply based on injury and time left on is key to a blood flow restriction being successful, not what's used to affect the desired results of slowing arterial blood flow.
I do know that cordage is bad... You can actually cut the limb and create more problems than you had before. A tourniquet, I think, should be over 1.5 inches wide. I'm really having to think back but it's something like that. Belts aren't great because they can stretch and break but it would be a better alternative than paracord or rope. There's lots to consider but I think the single most important thing to consider is if it's truly needed at all. If I remember correctly, most wounds are not tourniquet necessary wounds, but as that saying goes, if all you've got is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail.
Be careful with Amazon and TQ, there was a lot of fake ones from China found on Amazon that were breaking the windless.
Tourniquets work well because of the tremendous amount of pressure that they put on the wound. If you've never had one put on you before, it hurts.
