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Tourniquets and combat medicine
A Wall St. Journal article on advances in combat medicine notes that the tourniquet is making a comeback, with some troops carrying them strapped to their thigh for fast use.
The military ought to do more looking into BlackHawk's Integrated Tourniquet System uniforms. Tourniquets are actually built into the uniform, at shoulder, elbow, thigh and knee. Pull open a velcro pocket, and the strap and handle are right at hand.
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Integrated or pre-applied tourniquets are not a great idea. The overwhelming majority of amputations in the current theater are from blasts. Blasts that tend to remove limbs nearly always also remove uniforms.
CATs (Combat Applicable Tourniquets IIRC) are usually strapped to body armor, which is more likely to survive. 9 times out of 10 you end up using your own tourniquet on a casualty, which is why everyone carries plenty of spares.
Folks that are going out with tourniquets actually pre-applied to limbs are being a bit melodramatic.
My civilian EMS system has been doing this for years because one of the surgeons who was instrumental in putting the system together served as a surgeon in Vietnam. While most of the civilian EMS world thought of tourniquets as bad, we were busy using them and saving lives. Now, thanks, if that's the word, to the Iraq and Afghan theaters of war, tourniquets are making a comeback.
I have to agree with the two other commenters and add that wearable tourniquets can't be used on other people.
I have used the HPFU with the built in tourniquets. They are designed to quickly stop extremity bleeding. They work. Fighterdoc must not have much experience with traumatic limb injuries. The number one cause of preventable death that is taught in C4 is extremity bleedout. Time to tourniquet reduces severity of blood loss and death. I work down range. I will take every advantage I can get.
I've tried the blackhawk integral TQ's....I don't like them: They cause chafing, and frankly anything that happens to a limb requiring a TQ will probably damage the TQ anyway.