The Virginia Tech shootings shocked the world. During that horrific event arose a good story. Kevin Sterne was shot in the leg. The bullet ruptured his femoral artery. And if you know anything about the femoral artery – you know that rupturing that artery is a very bad thing. You can bleed to death very quickly. Fortunately, Kevin was a former Eagle Scout and knew the kind of danger he was in. He fashioned a makeshift tourniquet out of electrical cord and tried to hang on while medical professionals arrived. When medical professionals arrived, they applied the Mechanical Advantage Tourniquet (MAT) to Kevin’s leg and most likely saved his life.
The MAT has numerous benefits over conventional tourniquets:
- The Cybertech Mechanical Advantage Tourniquet (MAT) has been proven to be the fastest, easiest to use and most effective 1-hand tourniquet in military medic training tests
- The MAT is the only tourniquet that meets all 12 of the DoD’s functional and performance criteria for 1-handed tourniquets
- Typical 1-hand application and full occlusion is achieved in under 10 seconds
- MATs have been tested in extreme and adverse conditions (where velcro-based tourniquets will not work) including: mud and grime submersion, water submersion, sand submersion, oil and sand submersion, extreme cold and ice-encrustment, and high-velocity, hard surface (concrete) impact
- MATs are constructed of the highest-quality and durable materials included DuPont Acetel and Nylon 66 — to withstand combat-proven impact and extreme temperature ranges (-40º to 200+ºF)
- MATs repeatedly tested to survive 330 lb-ft pull force before component deflection (MATs survived tests with no product or component failure and were reusable with full function)
- MATs have been repeatedly tested to demonstrated 145 ft-lb compression power generation (approx 3X+ that typically required for blood flow occlusion)
- MATs have been repeatedly tested to demonstrated 380-503 ft-lb of tensile strength (approx. 9X – 12X typically required for blood flow occlusion)
The MAT was initially constructed for the DoD in response to terrorist threats on military and civilian scenarios.
(Sources: SP Services, UK and Cybertech)
