A great white shark, one of the most feared and misunderstood creatures in the ocean. Photo: Francesco Califano//Unsplash
Shark attacks: they’re every surfer’s worst nightmare. They don’t happen as often as our irrational fear of them might suggest, but there’s no doubt that surfing regularly most anywhere in the world significantly raises the odds that it might happen – to you or someone else in the water with you. And there’s the million dollar question – what do you do if there’s an attack?
Not if you are attacked by a shark, as chances are you’ll be too distracted by the excruciating pain to do anything helpful, but what do you do if someone else is attacked while you’re in the water? Do you: A. paddle straight for shore and thank your lucky stars it was that poor devil and not you who’s currently being devoured by an apex predator? Or B. do what we’d all hope any other decent surfer would do for us if we were attacked and jump into action? If your answer was B., what would jumping into action even look like?
Run and call for help might seem like a good answer, but far more important is stopping the bleeding. And according to Doctor Nicholas Taylor, a surfer and dean of The Australian National University’s medical school in Canberra, there’s a much better method to stopping the catastrophic bleeding that can occur from a bite to the leg than trying to fashion a makeshift tourniquet out of your surf leash – “push hard between the hip and the bits and you could save a life,” says Taylor.
“Push hard between the hip and the bits and you could save a life,” says Dr Taylor. Photo: Dr Nicholas Taylor / ANU Medical School
According to Taylor, most victims of deadly shark attacks are bitten in the legs, and as anyone with a shred of medical experience knows, the femoral artery, running from groin to knee, is a real bleeder. If severed, it can cause the victim to bleed out in less than five minutes, nowhere near enough time to sit around and wait for medical professionals to arrive. If you want to save a life in the event of a shark attack, you’ll need to act yourself.
“I saw all these media reports and noticed that most people are using leg ropes as tourniquets and I thought we should see if that actually works because as a doctor I would push on the groin,” says Taylor. “I thought it was simple enough that anyone can learn to do it.” Dr Taylor conducted a series of trials to test his theory with fellow emergency doctor David Lamond, and they found that by making a fist and applying pressure to the artery “between the hip and the bits,” it stopped 89.7 percent of blood flow to the leg, as opposed to 43.8 percent when using a surf leash as a makeshift tourniquet. The technique worked both with and without a wetsuit on, and could also work for arm injuries with pressure being applied to the brachial artery at the armpit, but as of yet Dr Taylor’s team hasn’t tested that theory.
Of note, is the fact that this technique is primarily applicable on land as opposed to maintaining such pressure in the water, even with the support of a surfboard, which sounds nearly impossible. Dr Taylor does agree that a proper tourniquet would be the best option. “It would be great if every surfer carried a tourniquet, but it isn’t going to happen,” he said.
The OMNA Tourniquet Leash Cuff expands into a medical-grade tourniquet and works with leashes from most major surf brands. Photo: OMNA Inc.
That being said, there are solutions for taking a medical-grade tourniquet into the water with you, such as the OMNA Marine Tourniquet. The device can be applied to yourself, even one-handed, and is built into the ankle cuff of surfboard leashes sold under the OMNA label. “A tourniquet only works if you have one with you,” the product description reads.
One would hope that, if this story gains enough traction, surfers the world over might realize that, short of having a tourniquet on their leash cuff, you do actually have another tourniquet with you at all times – your fist, and a whole lot of pressure. “I want posters at beaches. I want to get it out in the surf community. I want people to know that if someone gets bitten you can pull out the patient, push as hard as you can in this midpoint spot and it can stop almost all of the blood flow,” said Dr Taylor.
Editor’s Note: Learn how to minimize chances of an adverse shark encounter as well as critical information about shark behavior and more during 20-plus video lessons in Ocean Ramsey’s Guide to Sharks and Safety.
