Finger pressing of the arteries: first aid for stopping arterial bleeding

Arterial bleeding is an open injury, which, if first-aid care is not provided in a timely manner, can lead to the death of a person. It is it that is considered the most dangerous of all possible types of blood loss.

Before providing medical assistance, you should make sure that this is it. A distinctive feature of such a wound will be that the blood from it will literally spill out like a fountain, due to the heartbeats and pressure. The blood itself will have a pronounced red color. In this state, the victim will be very pale and weak. His face will be covered in sweat very quickly. There may be dizziness, drowsiness, panic attack, and fainting. Also, people in this condition may feel thirsty and dry mouth. Their pulse is weakened.

Before considering first aid for arterial bleeding, it must be said about such existing types of blood loss:

1. Bleeding from the affected veins is accompanied by bleeding dark red blood.
2. Capillary bleeding is accompanied by a slight release of scarlet blood.
3. Mixed bleeding is characterized by simultaneous damage to veins, capillaries and blood vessels.
4. Arterial bleeding is characterized by complete or partial rupture of the artery vessel.

In the event that first aid for arterial bleeding is not provided in the next few minutes after the moment of injury, the patient will die of blood loss and there will be a lethal outcome. In this state, there is an instant loss of blood, which is why the body simply does not have time to activate its protective functions. This leads to a lack of blood for the heart, oxygen deficiency and myocardial arrest.

If the femoral artery of the limb has been damaged, then the patient may have a variety of consequences - from gangrene and infection, to the need to amputate the leg.

Also, with severe blood loss, be it a shoulder, neck or limb, the patient often develops a hematoma. It needs prompt elimination.

As can be understood from the above, first aid for arterial bleeding is the algorithm of medical actions, on the correctness of which a person's life and further treatment largely depend.

You can learn about the rules of first aid for blood loss in the training video.

Stopping arterial bleeding: rules and methods

The basics of PMF for arterial bleeding are studied at school on OBZH, however, in a critical situation, few people can really accurately stop arterial bleeding.

PMF for arterial bleeding largely depends on the specific location of the wound.

Due to the fact that this type of blood loss requires immediate assistance, the person providing it should know the following rules:

1. In this case, it is impossible to hesitate, therefore, the assessment of the patient's condition is carried out in a matter of seconds.
2. Tear or cut the garment if necessary, as this will still need to be done in order to be able to conduct a normal inspection of the damage.
3. In a critical situation, dressing and clamping the wound can be done with improvised means - a belt, a scarf and something like that.
4. If the source of bleeding is uncertain, you can press your hands on the wound itself until the exact location of the injury is determined. This is usually done for abdominal wounds.

Stopping arterial bleeding on the forearm involves raising the patient's arm and placing it behind the head. Further, the person providing assistance needs to position himself behind the victim, squeeze the vessel with his fingers, feel the depression between the muscles and strongly press this area against the bone tissue.

PMF for arterial bleeding of the carotid artery involves clamping the wound with the thumb, when the rest of the fingers will be located on the back of the patient's head. It should be remembered that the carotid artery should always be clamped below the site of injury.

Temporal artery you need to squeeze with your fingers just above the upper edge of the ear.

Artery at the thigh squeezed as much as possible by the hand and pressed against the pubic bone. In thin victims, this vessel is very easy to press against the thigh.

Jaw artery should press the hand against the edge of the masseter muscle.

Stop arterial bleeding of the lower leg should occur by pressing the patient's popliteal cavity. Next, you should bend your leg at the knee.

At vascular lesions of the upper extremities into the armpit, you need to insert a fist and press the injured hand to the body.

PMF for arterial bleeding involves pinching, but not squeezing the artery. In this case, correct clamping requires a sufficiently large force, since it will be necessary to hold the artery in this position for a rather long time.

It is also worth knowing that while one person presses the artery, the other must find a tourniquet and gauze during this time in order to proceed to the second stage of assistance.

Methods for stopping arterial bleeding are selected individually, depending on the nature and complexity of the wound. This can be a tourniquet or digital pinching of the artery.

Methods for stopping venous bleeding are less complicated. They involve the imposition of a tight bandage.

There are such features of the harness imposition:

• In case of damage to the upper limbs, a tourniquet is applied to the upper part of the shoulder.
• In the case of local damage to the artery on the lower limb, two tourniquets can be used. The second will overlap slightly above the first.
• If the carotid artery is damaged, a bandage must be placed under the tourniquet so as not to inflict even more injury on the person and prevent the air flow from being squeezed.
• In winter, the tourniquet should be applied for half an hour. In the summer, it can be held for no more than an hour, after which it can be weakened so that the blood flows back into the leg.
• The tourniquet is applied only if the large vessels of the body are damaged. With minor venous damage, the wound only needs to be bandaged tightly.
• After the tourniquet has been applied, the injured part of the body should not be covered with clothing so that the doctor can monitor the condition of the patient's wound.

The very technique of applying a tourniquet is simple. First, wrap the affected area with gauze. Next, raise the limb and stretch the tourniquet. Wrap it around the limb twice. In this case, the tourniquet should not be tightly applied, so as not to squeeze the limb too much. At the end, the tourniquet is fixed and the patient is delivered to the hospital.

In the event that the tourniquet is correctly applied, the flow of blood should completely stop. It is imperative to put a note under it indicating the last time the bandage was applied.

Unfortunately, people often make mistakes when applying a tourniquet. This can be the application of a tourniquet without sufficient indications for the procedure or its application to bare skin, which will lead to the death of soft tissues.

The wrong localization of the tourniquet application and its weak tightening, which will only increase bleeding, are also considered a mistake.

Another mistake is the prolonged stay of the tourniquet in a tight state, which creates conditions for gangrene, infection and necrosis.

There is the following technique for applying a compressive dry dressing:

1. Put on gloves and examine the wound carefully.
2. Treat the wound with an antiseptic.
3. Apply sterile napkins to the wound and rewind tightly with a bandage on top.
4. Secure with a bandage.
5. Take the patient to the doctor.

Fingertip arteries and key points to know

Finger pressure of the arteries is used in all cases of head injury (jaw and temporal region in including) and neck, when bleeding cannot be controlled with a traditional surviving bandage overlays.

Finger pressing of the arteries is convenient because it is a quick method to stop bleeding without applying a bandage. The disadvantage of this practice is that the person who provides assistance cannot leave the patient in order to come to the aid of other injured patients.

The points of digital pressure of the arteries differ according to the anatomical location of the lesion. Thus, when bleeding in the temporal artery, it must be squeezed with two fingers in the area of ​​the auricle.

In case of bleeding, which is localized at the bottom of the facial part, you need to use this technique in the area located in the area between the jaw and the chin of a person.

If the carotid artery is affected, press on the front of the neck with your thumb.

In case of a shoulder injury, the brachial artery should be clamped. To do this, you need to press the artery with your finger to the bone and bend the arm.

If the femoral artery is damaged, a lot of force is required. You need to pinch it with your fingers folded together (right hand). Press down on top with the other hand.

Also, for severe bleeding, you can use the 3D method. It consists in strong and constant pressure on the wound with your hands for ten minutes.