The general feeling now-a-days appears to be that Tourniquets are BADBADBAD. does that mean we can discard that old snake-bite-info, or is the Tourniquet still a usefull technique to know?

Woft,<br><br>I'm sure the MDs on the forum will weigh in on this, but the latest I heard was that tourniquets are used only in the case of SEVERE bleeding, such as an accidental amputation or severed major blood vessel on an extremity. Tourniquets are no longer reccomended for snake bite treatment, in fact it is reccomended that they not be used. Treatment nowadays is to treat for bleeding at wound site, potential shock and evacuate patient to medical facility post haste. The Sawyer Extractor is the only viable field treatment even seriously discussed. <br><br> Hope this helps. Trust any advice from the medical people on the forum over mine, but the info I provided was the latest I'm aware of.<br><br><br>Take care,<br><br>Andy

The rule of thumb is to only use a tourniquet to save a life, knowing that you are probably going to lose the limb in the process...

http://www.xmission.com/~gastown/herpmed/snbite.htm

I would not dream of arguing with the page you mentioned. Im not qualified to. I have to laugh at some of the advice they give though. While it is perfectly fine for most people; giving advice to stay out of areas inhabited by venomous snakes is impossible for people like me. I am in a copperhead infested area the moment I walk out my front door. Its 25 miles to the nearest city. This has been a bad year for copperheads as there has been a bit of a drought condition all summer. I have killed 4 and seen, at the very least, 20 more that I did not kill. Thankfully, copperheads are not agressive. Only one has struck at me. I did not see him and he had nowhere to go. Rat shot in a 357 magnum took care of him.