Smyth Busters: Is There a Difference Between Tourniquets?

Caleb and Steve are joined by Chris Hoyne from North American Rescue to take on a very relevant myth for National Stop the Bleed Month, which is May, when we're releasing this video. That myth is: A tourniquet is a tourniquet. There's no difference between them. If you have to stop serious bleeding from an extremity, any tourniquet will get the job done just fine. True? Not true? Chris is a retired firefighter-paramedic, who also served as a medic on a SWAT team, so if anybody can answer this question authoritatively, he's our man!

Chris is holding NAR's Combat Application Tourniquet, which is a genuine U.S. Army approved Gen 7 tourniquet. You may find Internet sellers offering cheaper tourniquets that look like the CAT..... but if the price is way lower, they're probably counterfeits. Do you want to risk a life - possibly your own - on a tourniquet of uncertain origin that may fail to do the job it's designed for? You cannot necessarily recognize a counterfeit by looking at it because the counterfeiters are very good at copying the original right down to all its markings. The best way to find out if somebody offering an NAR CAT is an authorized reseller is to check North American Rescue's website. Chris shares a cautionary story about counterfeit CATs sent to Ukraine by well-meaning Americans.

What can go wrong if you get a bad tourniquet? For example, if the windlass - the bar you twist to tighten the tourniquet - is made of substandard material and it breaks, you cannot properly tighten the tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

The problem with makeshift / improvised tourniquets (for example, your belt) is that they don't work very well, and they typically can't be applied with ONE hand. If you can't stop the bleeding FAST, the victim is going to bleed out and die. A proper, military-style CAT tourniquet applies the correct pressure to stop the bleeding in time with minimal risk of tissue damage.

So the myth is BUSTED: tourniquets are NOT all the same. Don't use a substandard tourniquet or an improvised one. Get a proper CAT tourniquet from a reputable seller.

[TheKatosmith]

Happy to see you guys putting out videos on the medical supplies you sell. Emergency Medicine is an important part of any shooters kit.

[Hezziilishus]

VERY useful content throughout every, single, solitary, one of these Stop-The-Bleed videos.

I was a paramedic for 20 years, my fiancé, Randy, has been a paramedic for over 31 years and counting, and these guys truly do hit the nail dead-on-the-head in each of these videos.

Thank you Caleb, Steve, Brownells, and thank you to Chris and North American Rescue.

Y'all have a good one and stay safe out there!!!

[davidcarter]

This series is excellent. NAR, best equipment, best information. Keep up the great work.

[shaunskelton]

Refuge Medical, I have a CAT 7, and 2 softT's
10 percent off with OHIO10.
GREAT stuff and they back there products as well as you guys do at Brownell.

[dgax]

You should have given Chris a cup of coffee. He looked a little left out during the ritual end-of-video sippage.

[ChrisB.C.]

As entertaining as they can be, guntuber videos rarely convince me to buy anything I wasn't looking for. After watching this, I went through my EDC first aid kit and realized it wasn't very good. Just placed an order for some NAR kit and new tourniquet.

[jeff]

Great series guys, after watching this video I checked the contents of my small trauma pouch and sure enough my tourniquet along with almost everything else in the pouch was / is made in China, so I will be upgrading soon. Thanks

[ForYourConsideration]

When conducting bleeding control training for a shooting club, one of the club members showed me at tourniquet that he had just purchased on the internet, at a below wholesale price. When we examined it carefully, I determined that the tourniquet was a fake CAT and that the way it was stitched made it impossible to tighten. The markings made it look legitimate but it was totally non-functional. In this case, having a fake was worse than having nothing because of valuable time that would be lost trying to troubleshoot an unfixable problem. We always recommend buying directly from North American Rescue, or from another highly trusted retailer.

[johncalliope]

Lost my leg almost six months ago in a boiler explosion. Saved my own life with some bailing twine. A simple slip knot and a tight pull.

[ytafshin]

It would have been nice to actually show a knockoff and why it's inferior rather than a manufacturer saying "buy ours not the knockoffs".

[x]

Currently running with SOFTT-W Gen 4 Tourniquet, hope that passes the 'test' :)

[TBG]

I primarily use the soft-t wide. But I do have a couple of cat tourniquets and train with all of them. I'll only purchase any tourniquet from NAR or Mountainman Medical.

[Drpolicebox]

Could you do a video on Lead sleds damaging rifles and scopes? There seems to be a lot of talk about it

[nativewarrior]

I currently have 3 NAR Gen7 CAT tourniquets and still want more. Working construction a slip with a saw can be a catastrophic injury and having a TQ stashed everywhere could save a live. I keep one on a pack I keep with me, another on my plate carrier in BFG TQ Now! hammock, and a third on my IFAK.

[RealTacticalHobo]

Twinsies on the shirt Caleb and Steve. Bet you planned that. 😂

[johnthomasjr]

I personally keep N.A.R. tourniquets handy, but most people I know are cheap skates, and I can't even get them to get a fire extinguisher for the house. Sadly, most people only learn from loss, and until fire consumes everything they own or a close loved one bleeds out, they will not consider investing in quality emergency equipment.

[jstpsgthru]

Smythbusters! Bust the myth that the tourniquet must be close to a joint, not a few inches above the injury. Your NAR guy has a different explanation for tourniquet placement than other 1st aid/defense/safety people. BTW, I was going to buy the kit with the tourniquet in a separate outer pouch, but I couldn't find it on your website.

[JusticeFreedomDestin]

Y’all have Chris on the show and didn’t offer him a drink??

Bit of joking aside, nice work

[gillibby]

There is a frase that comes to mine about buying cheap first aid equipment, "You bet someone's life."

[TheCrewChief]

😂 Man alive you didn't even offer your guest a empty coffee mug, so he could do the ending sipping of nothing at the end of the video?😁