TQ Relocation

Why would we want to do tourniquet relocation? What we're trying to do is perfuse more of the extremity by lowering the tourniquet and putting it in a new position. The times that we're going to do this are if we receive a casualty and we've got a delay in evacuation. The way I'm going to do this is pretty straightforward.

I'm going to leave this tourniquet up. It's totally effective. We've got a gunshot wound to the lower extremity. I'm going to leave this one in place. I'm going to grab another tourniquet. I'm going to place this tourniquet on the lower extremity. I'm going to place that two to three inches above the wound, and then I'm going to secure this windlass and strap it in place.

Releasing the Proximal Tourniquet

I'm going to slowly release this tourniquet, watching for any signs of re-bleeding. As I release this tourniquet, you can release it over about a minute. This tourniquet has now been loosened and I'm observing the wound. I want to make sure that there's no further bleeding from the wound. So now what I've been able to do is take this tourniquet, perfuse all this extra tissue here, and now I've just got a tourniquet on the distal lower extremity.