You are correct in part with your caution about elastic bandages, as they can be used very inappropriately, but there is more to the story. An elastic bandage is probably the first item I would install in my FAK. I have employed them regularly for years in holding various wayward joints that were trying hard to unravel in the middle of a trip - dreadfully inconvenient situation. Mostly I have self applied them to either the knee or ankle, and kept on going, a la "Spirit of "76." I remember one trip some years ago where all the elastics we had (about five) were in use by the end of the trip. It was a better solution than littering the landscape with dead bodies....

Cautions include applying them only to a conscious individual, and watch the bandage and downstream circulation like a hawk! But then, come to think of it, you should monitor any application of a pressure bandage. The elastic bandage is certainly not for the untrained, but it definitely has a place in a FAK.

I guess iit comes down to the situation for which the FAK will be used. Think about that carefully as you assemble your gear.