[dotancohen]

What it's worth, we were taught the same thing about people crushed under e.g. rubble in combat medic training 20 years ago. And the same consideration applies to removing a tourniquet that had been in place for over two hours as well.

[xelamonster]

So what does that actually look like in practice, lifting the piece of rubble an inch at a time? How slowly would you release a tourniquet in that situation?

[cperciva]

I'm not a medical doctor, but my understanding is that in the scenario of "patient's limb has been trapped/crushed for an extended period and can now be freed" you're supposed to tourniquet off the limb before freeing it.

This helps both for delaying reperfusion issues until the patient can be in the hospital with IV lines in place, and also in case there's an injury which could cause massive blood loss (since a trapped limb is inherently one which is hard to inspect for injuries).

[xelamonster]

Makes sense, thanks! I first heard about crush syndrome from an episode of House, and IIRC it ended up being a cause of death so didn't exactly learn how to manage it. Though I want to say the woman there was pinned from the waist down, which I'd imagine complicates things.

[dotancohen]

Yes, this is correct.