Regardless of the mechanism of injury, haemorrhage is the leading cause of death following trauma. Injury–induced haemorrhage accounts for the largest proportion of mortality within the first hour of trauma care. It claims more lives than any other injury–induced pathology within the first 48 hours of care.
Following numerous large military campaigns, it is now widely accepted that the rapid application of a tourniquet to a limb for uncontrolled arterial haemorrhaging can dramatically influence the outcome.