Why You Need To Always Pack A Hemostatic Bandage

I’ve often been asked what I carry in my motorcycle luggage. It really depends on the kind of ride and its duration. So what I carry may or may not sense to everyone else. But there is one thing I would recommend that all riders carry with them. Preferably find a place on the motorcycle where it permanently resides so that you don’t forget to take it. A hemostatic bandage.

There are wide variety of things that can happen to you in an accident. Assuming you always wear a helmet, your top storey is likely to be ok, save a concussion. You could very well break a bone or two. But that won’t kill you and you will hopefully recover soon to ride another day. But one thing that can kill you is excessive bleeding if one of your main blood vessels gets ruptured and you lose a lot of blood. Getting to a hospital to stop the bleeding can take a long time, and that could cost you your life.

A hemostatic bandage works by accelerating the clotting of blood to stop the bleeding, thereby buying you precious time to reach a hospital. The bandage has stuff that reacts with the blood and quickly forms a clot. You need to insert the bandage deep into the wound until it makes contact with the ruptured vein or artery. Then apply constant pressure for around three minutes till the clot is formed. Just wrapping the wound with the bandage won’t help. After clotting is achieved use a regular bandage to cover the wound and stick the empty hemostatic bandage packaging somewhere in the regular bandage so that the doctor knows that a hemostatic bandage has been inserted into the wound.

You can find brands of hemostatic bandages on Amazon. This is the one I use. Well, I haven’t used it yet. But this is the one I carry.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P97BQR9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This works a little differently in the sense that you don’t need to insert the bandage into the wound. Rather you just wrap it around the wound tightly like a regular bandage.

Please share as you see fit. It could save a life.