Triangle Bandages: How, Why, and DIY

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on knowledge and understanding you might wish to acquire in advance of a disaster in case no higher care is available.  As long as our society is functioning, you should leave anything more substantial than applying a Band-Aid to the professionals.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care. 

Usually, when I consult my pile of books here for information on one of the medical topics, at least one or two of the sources will have something. Such was not the case for triangle bandages.  In fact, none of the authors made more than a passing reference to them.  My only explanation for this is that perhaps triangle bandages are so common and so useful among doctors that they are taken for granted.

Because they have so many applications, you probably should have at least six or eight in your family medical kit, you know, the one you take with you on outings. You should have more at home (or be able to improvise). Yeah, I thought that was a high number as well. But the doctors and the herbal medic teaching my classes waxed poetic about how genuinely fabulous they are.

Triangle bandages are less than a buck apiece on Amazon, and they come with the safety pins and all folded up in little zippered plastic bags. So that's what we went with.

But even the most textile-challenged person on the planet can DIY these. Truly. Here's how:

• Begin with a freshly laundered (preferably in hot water) old sheet. (You can even use a new sheet if that makes you feel better, but be aware that wives and mothers tend to frown on this sort of thing.)
• Cut a 40" square of sheet.  
• Cut the square of fabric in half diagonally to yield two triangle bandages.
• Fold them into a small package size, perhaps to fit a snack-size Ziploc bag.  
• If you iron the bandage at each fold, you'll be able to get it a little more compact. And it helps disinfect the bandage.

Now some people would have you believe that you need to boil the bandage to sterilize it. Boiling, as mentioned in another post, does not sterilize. It disinfects. And "they" tell you to put them in sterile bags. Your average Ziploc bag is not sterile. It's clean. Clean is good. And for what it's worth, just in case you're not entirely convinced, none of the commercially available triangle bandages are sterile, either. Check the packaging. They're just clean.

Now that you have your triangle bandages, what on earth are they used for? Triangle bandages are so versatile that Google will yield a hundred hits, at least, starting at "Five Uses for Triangle Bandages." I think the highest number I saw was fifty-six, but a lot of them were pretty silly. Here are the most important:

• Orthopedic injuries
• fractures
• hold splints in place for fractures to arms and legs
• stabilize hip injuries and pelvic fractures
• stabilize a fractured jaw
• arm sling
• broken arm or wrist
• dislocated shoulder 
• sprains
• stabilize a sprained ankle
• Bleeding
• hold dressings and gauze in place;
• create a pressure dressing;
• use to apply direct pressure to stop bleeding.
• If all else fails, after 30 minutes of constant direct pressure, and if you don't have a real tourniquet, it can be used as a tourniquet. You'll also need a windlass to tighten the tourniquet sufficiently.  
• Eye injuries
• If one eye is injured, both are usually bandaged, because the eyes track together, i.e., if one eye moves, the other follows to track the object, even if that eye is bandaged.
• Environmental issues
• fashion an emergency hat for hypothermic patients or to prevent sunburn in bald/balding patients
• combine with a handwarmer to make an emergency mitten
• make a cold compress for reducing fever
• wear as a mask to filter out some dust or other pollutants 

A bandana or two may serve much the same purpose for some of these uses. However, keep in mind that bandanas are substantially smaller and won't work for everything. 

There are loads of Youtubes on how to wrap various injuries. It would be a good idea to check them out. Here's a link to one by Dr. Joe and Nurse Amy Alton, authors of The Survival Medicine Handbook. 

 

One final note: triangle bandages are also called cravats. Fewer letters, fewer syllables, easier to spell.

Links to related posts:
Bleeding
Tourniquets

 17 december 2019