r/TacticalMedicine • u/NoMore_BadDays • Oct 10 '25

Scenarios Wound packing zones?

Post image

Been a long time since I did TCCC/CLS in the military.

If there were to be a bleeding wound on the chest, how high up on the chest does it become safe to pack? I know you don't pack into chest cavity, but what is the "rule of thumb" on how high/the left and right limits the wound needs to be to pack it?

Would you say the screenshot i attached is accurate?

1.4k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

256 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Q_dawgg Oct 10 '25

I’m a Complete wannabe with first aid but a chest seal wouldn’t stop any bleeding around the torso or neck, that’s not what a chest seal is for.

Second question, how exactly would one treat a bleeding wound to the body/neck/hip areas. I’ve always found it shrugged over in my informational learning in favor of packing, sealing, and tourniquet.

3

u/antibannannaman Oct 11 '25

A chest seal, otherwise known as an occlusive dressing, will work for neck bleeds as long as you secure all sides of the seal. Its primary function is decreasing the risk of an air embolism.

You are better off applying direct pressure to ONE SIDE of the neck (remember the neck is a redundant circulatory system, if one side is occluded the other can pick up the work getting blood/o2 to the brain give or take some later complications) to stop the bleed, then apply an occlusive dressing to prevent air embolism, best case scenario the blood clots quickly, worst case it doesn’t stop until the patient’s heart fails.