Advocacy & Safety - Use a tire tube as a tourniquet

Just something that popped into my head today.
A bad accident in a group ride could make use of that.

A tourniquet should be used only as a last resort, after direct pressure methods have failed. One of my friends, a first aid trainer, tells his students that applying a tourniquet should be regarded as a decision to sacrifice a limb, because this is often the consequence.

use the 'quit, lose the limb.

pretty dire. most cycling injuries of a serious nature will be internal or head injuries. very infrequent arterial slashing that would require a tourn otherwise. good thinking though.

i'd strongly recommend packing a bandana in a jersey pocket for use as a first aid device instead. much more useful for many purposes....

bandana, a.k.a. cravat, useages:

bandage. splint wrap (use roadside sticks). helmet liner. road rash washer. debris out of the eye puller. general eyeglass wiper. emergency chamois pad. road dust/ exhaust screen. sling. cooling headband when dipped. face wind, neck sun block. etc.

The best first-aid equipment is a cell phone. But you should know CPR, and how to apply direct pressure (not a tourniquet) to a bleed. You should know NOT to move somebody who's been in a crash--unless you MUST move them to safety. You should know the symptoms of heat exhaustion, stroke, heart attack, and severe allergic reactions. Obviously these are life-threatening situations, and require a 911 call on that cell phone.

pretty dire. most cycling injuries of a serious nature will be internal or head injuries. very infrequent arterial slashing that would require a tourn otherwise. good thinking though..

I saw it happen once in a criterium in downtown Milwaukee where they were crossing one of the metal grate bridges across the river. The racer went down on the metal grate and cut both wrists ... he was pretty darn bloody !!

jw

doubtful he required a double tourniquet. but yeah, sheit happens and it gets messy real quick!

as a note of solidarity, i was lying in a heap with a broken hip in front of an SUV with a smashed windshield just a year or so ago, John. I was a little too far to the left...

as a note of solidarity, i was lying in a heap with a broken hip in front of an SUV with a smashed windshield just a year or so ago, John. I was a little too far to the left...

Not the club one aspires to join ... but glad you're alive. ;)

jw

So if someone crashes and gets a bloody nose, I should put a tourniquet around his neck to stop the blleeding, right?

Agree that teh original tourniquet idea is of very limited use.

However a tube (or a couple of tubes) can provide the material for a sling or to otherwise immobilize a limb. This also should be viewed as near a last resort. However if mountian biking at a reasonably remore location this could be the best route. (let's say almost done for the day, 2 miles from the trailhead with the cars and 30 miles from the trailhead to civilization, one hour before dark and cold nights).

So if someone crashes and gets a bloody nose, I should put a tourniquet around his neck to stop the blleeding, right?

Don't laugh, I have taken first aid and cpr many times, and one person actually asked about using a tourniquet for head injuries. Almost no one knows how to use a tourniquet properly, thats why you wait until you have no choice. Plus, of the 100 or so people I have been in training with, I would probably only want about 4 or 5 of them being the ones to try and save me.

Don't laugh, I have taken first aid and cpr many times, and one person actually asked about using a tourniquet for head injuries. Almost no one knows how to use a tourniquet properly, thats why you wait until you have no choice. Plus, of the 100 or so people I have been in training with, I would probably only want about 4 or 5 of them being the ones to try and save me.

I am sorry I cant not laugh.

I am thinking you are gonna need to know CPR if you are gonna use a tourniquet for a head injury.

What do you do, put it around the neck and twist tight and wait until the victim turns blue.
The then take it of and do Mouth to Mouth until they are breathing again.
repeat as necassary.

I am sorry I cant not laugh.

I am thinking you are gonna need to know CPR if you are gonna use a tourniquet for a head injury.

What do you do, put it around the neck and twist tight and wait until the victim turns blue.
The then take it of and do Mouth to Mouth until they are breathing again.
repeat as necassary.
actually, I meant that the previous poster may have thought it a joke, but that there are people out there that are really lacking in common sense. I have had to keep from laughing in every cpr first/aid class. My last class, a guy actually asked if you have to suck the air out of the person, after you breathe it in during rescue breathing. I wanted to crawl under my chair so I didnt have to look at the guy. It was too silent and I had to make sure I didnt laugh or it would have been obvious. I noticed a few people looking at the instructor with thoughtful looks on their faces, as if they didnt know the answer to the guys question.

I hope the guy isnt on BF.net reading this right now.

If you don't have the materials for an improptu pressure dressing for heavy bleeding, that inner tube might come in handy. Just don't wrap it so tight that it makes the foot turn blue! Make sure you check distal pulses (Google that!).

jw

In 20 years as a paramedic, I used a tourniquet once, and that was on a guy with an arm entrapped in machinery.

Roody's advice is best-call for help. Heat and orthopedic injuries, as well as individual specific health problems will be most common, so a basic first aid course will teach you all you really need to know.

When my wife and I rode on a heavily used park trail, we carried a little bit of gear, but the only thing that cannot be improvised is a pocket mask for rescue breathing during CPR.

actually, I meant that the previous poster may have thought it a joke, but that there are people out there that are really lacking in common sense. I have had to keep from laughing in every cpr first/aid class. My last class, a guy actually asked if you have to suck the air out of the person, after you breathe it in during rescue breathing. I wanted to crawl under my chair so I didnt have to look at the guy. It was too silent and I had to make sure I didnt laugh or it would have been obvious. I noticed a few people looking at the instructor with thoughtful looks on their faces, as if they didnt know the answer to the guys question.

I hope the guy isnt on BF.net reading this right now.

Not quite as funny, but a real story.

Elderly patient in ICU codes.
When this happens every on the floor responds to the code.
They can’t stick a vein to get an IV started so the Doctor is going to do a Jugular IV.
An Aide asks the Dr if he needs a tourniquet?

My 4 year old son fell off his bike the other day and stuck his hand through a beer bottle and sliced his hand up pretty good and I am glad to say Direct Pressure is amazingly effective at stopping bleeding. 10 stitches later (10 stitches in a 4 year olds hand is a lot of stitches!).

Anyway, as for common sense in CPR classes we (me and some boy scouts trying to get BSA Lifeguard) once went to a cpr class and the lady instructor (who was pretty well endowed, not that I looked but it was hard to not look and see what she was really intending to demonstrate at the same time) was wearing a loose really low cut top. Personally, if I were a lady demonstrating chest compressions in front of a large group of people I would wear a shirt that didn't flash everyone (and show chest decompressions) when I demonstrated them. Perhaps they were trying to attract more customers (it was a heartsavers class).

I would think a bicycle tube would be pretty hard to apply correctly as a tourniquet or compression band as it would be difficult to get the correct pressure due to the difficulty of tieing the rubber.