Emergencies >>>> How to stop bleeding for a while if there is no tourniquet?

How to stop bleeding for a while if there is no tourniquet?

The concept of "burning" when stopping bleeding is very conditional, since in emergency cases it is not at hand to stop bleeding. An ordinary rubber tourniquet is never available, except when it is placed in the first aid kit in advance. Instead of a tourniquet, you can use any rubber tube or strip (even cut off from a piece of the rubber chamber of the wheel), a long piece of fabric twisted with a string (from clothes, from towels, from bed linen), a strip of tarpaulin or raincoat fabric (from a tent, from an umbrella, from awning, from the bag), a piece of cable (wire, plastic, but not metal, as it should bend easily), waist belt, belt from a car seat, fabric belt, rep belt or straps from a backpack, a long handle from a bag, a tie, suspenders and even straps or a corset from a bra, a corset tightening. A modified tourniquet allows you to stop bleeding for a maximum of two hours, and with periodic weakening of the tourniquet - for a longer period (the tourniquet on the shoulder is dissolved at intervals of 1-1.5 hours). The tourniquet is applied to a backing and never applied to exposed skin unless it is a wide strip of tissue used as a tourniquet. But how to stop the bleeding for a while if there is no tourniquet?

It is very important for arterial bleeding not to get confused and be able to help yourself or other people in order to save lives. If there is nothing that can be used as a tourniquet to stop bleeding, then heavy bleeding can also be stopped WITHOUT A TOURNEY ! To stop bleeding, the speed of blood flow matters!

It is the suspension of arterial bleeding that is of primary importance for saving the life of the victim. To distinguish arterial from venous bleeding, just look at the color of the blood - it is scarlet, in contrast to venous blood, which is dark with a deep red (cherry color). Arterial blood is close to the color of blood from any minor wound, and venous blood resembles dark red syrup in color. Venous blood does not gush out, but simply flows out in a trickle at a low speed, and it can be stopped by simply pressing the wound with a hand.

From the damaged arteries, blood beats under pressure - like a spring key or shocks or a fountain splashes out of the wound. It is easy to remember that arterial bleeding is directly related to blood pressure - the more blood flows out of the artery, the lower the blood pressure will become, and at very low pressure, the person first falls into a coma (gradually becomes drowsy, and then falls into a complete sleep), and after time dies if you do not have time to fill the lack of blood with blood substitutes).

It is not easy to stop bleeding under pressure, for which the technique of stopping it involves pressing the damaged vessel against the bone located close to it - this is precisely what is achieved by pressing the vessel with a tourniquet - the tourniquet presses the vessel against the bone with great force and stops bleeding.

In order to stop the blood in the arterial vessel located on the extremities, it is necessary to strongly press the damaged vessel to the bone above the wound by about 1-3 fingers (this is the minimum) or higher, but the tourniquet is not applied to the wound itself. Everything is done by touch - to feel for the nearest bone located near the wound and press the arterial vessel against it (arterial vessels are not visible - they do not come close to the surface of the skin).

It should be noted that the clamping of arterial vessels at the level of the neck or head occurs below the location of the wound, and the clamping of damaged arteries at the level of the extremities (upper or lower) occurs at a level above the wound itself. The same rule works in case of injury to the subclavian artery (it is located above the heart). Such arterial bleeding from the subclavian artery can be clamped at the level of the clavicle bone below the wound itself, but the pressure must be made not to the collarbone, but to the first rib.

This rule is due to two circles of blood circulation, when blood flows through the arteries to the limbs from top to bottom (from the heart down), and blood to the neck and head - from the bottom up (from the heart up).

In case of arterial bleeding, it is considered a mistake to simply clamp the wound with a hand or a pressure bandage with soft tissue pressure - arterial bleeding is so severe that blood continues to flow out - only a strong pressure of the vessel against the bone can stop it. That is, the first action that must be taken when stopping bleeding from an artery is to feel for the bone closest to the wound (the size of the bone is not important, but it is important that all soft tissues can be pressed against it along with the vessel).

Finger clamping of a wound or clamping a wound with a hand (palm) in case of arterial bleeding is practically useless, since it is impossible to develop a force sufficient to compress soft tissues together with a vessel with either a finger or a brush. But the muscles of the limbs in the forearm, shoulder, thigh and lower leg are so strong that using their strength, you can achieve the desired effect without applying a tourniquet. The exception is bleeding from the temporal, carotid and subclavian arteries, where digital pressure of the artery is allowed, since it comes close to the surface of the skin and can be felt.

How to clamp a wound with arterial bleeding without a tourniquet?

When the temporal artery is injured, this artery is pressed from the side of the wound in front of the earlobe with the finger of the hand with maximum force. When the carotid artery is injured, press this artery below the wound with all the fingers of the hand with maximum force, and do not clamp the wound on the neck with the hand, from which blood flows. Hands alternately change as the muscles of the fingers get tired. You can clamp the artery to yourself without waiting for outside help - this will save your life, since the fountaining of the artery at neck level is the most dangerous of all arterial bleeding, since a large amount of blood immediately splashes out, and the count goes on for seconds.

In case of arterial bleeding from a wound located in the forearm (distance from the wrist to the elbow joint), bend the arm as much and sharply as possible in the elbow joint so that the muscles of the forearm and shoulder (in this case, the shoulder means the distance from the elbow joint to the shoulder joint) are in maximum contact between themselves. This proven method helps even in cases of poorly located wounds, when it is impossible to press the vessel to the bone with a tourniquet (for example, it is inconvenient to place the tourniquet or there is no place to apply it). With this clamping, all wounds with arterial bleeding located at different levels of the forearm will stop bleeding at all or begin to bleed with minimal blood loss - it all depends on the force of pressing the forearm to the shoulder of the upper limb.

The same method blocks extensive venous bleeding at any point of the upper limb from the shoulder joint to the elbow joint.

The maximally bent upper limbs in the area of the elbow bend are able to block almost all bleeding of the upper limb in case of wounds located below the bend of the limbs. Control folds of the limbs, blocking the bleeding from wounds below the fold:

The maximum bend of the arm in the elbow joint with the maximum pressing of the muscles of the forearm to the muscles of the shoulder (biceps) - blocks the bleeding artery at the level of the wound, located below the elbow bend throughout the entire forearm.
The maximum bend of the arm in the elbow joint with the maximum pressing of the muscles of the forearm to the muscles of the shoulder (biceps) - blocks the bleeding artery located at the level of the wrist or below the wrist.

On the lower limb, such a maneuver with bleeding wounds located in the shin area can be carried out if the leg is bent sharply and as much as possible at the knee joint and the shin muscles are pressed against the internal muscles of the thigh as strongly as possible. In order to enhance the effect or block arterial bleeding in the thigh area without a tourniquet, it is necessary to bend the limb in the area of the hip joint - pull up and press the bent limb as much as possible to the stomach with support on the foot (the foot rests on the floor or the ground) or without support on the foot (the bent limb is held in weight with support on the stomach and clasped additionally with hands in order to so that the muscles of the lower leg and thigh do not weaken from the load). The same effect can be achieved if, having bent the limb at the knee joint, squat down with maximum bending of the bent limb to the gluteal muscle, but a person in this position and with a wound in the lower limb and without a tourniquet cannot move independently - it must be transported.

The maximally bent lower limbs in the area of the fold are able to block almost all bleeding of the lower limb in case of wounds located below the fold of the limbs. Control folds of the limbs, blocking the bleeding from wounds below the fold:

The maximum bend of the leg in the hip joint with the maximum compression of the muscles of the lower leg and thigh - covers the bleeding artery located below this hip bend and up to the bend in the knee, as well as all arterial wounds below this bend throughout the limb. In case of multiple arterial wounds of the lower extremity, it is sufficient to choose the most highly located arterial wound of the vessel and bend the maximum lower limb at a level above the wound, as described in the instructions above.
The maximum bend of the leg in the knee joint with the maximum pressing of the lower leg to the inner part of the thigh - blocks the bleeding artery at the level between the knee joint and the lower leg, as well as at the level of the ankle and foot.

When injured with bleeding from the foot, any vessels of the lower leg are blocked in the ways that are described for bleeding from the lower leg.

In case of injuries of the upper extremities with venous bleeding (not high-speed), raising the limb up and simply pressing the wound makes it possible to stop and slow down the bleeding. The figure clearly shows the meaning of stopping venous bleeding in the upper limbs in this way and the level of raising the upper limb.

Any extensive bleeding is stopped in order to gain time for transfer to a medical facility, where the damaged vessel will be “sewn up” or reconstructed.