Nose Bleed Remedy?

[Squintz]

Many people are taught differnt ways to stop their nose from bleeding. My fiances father is really big into chinese medicine and martial arts. One remedy he says is to pinch the Index finger on your left hand. I have done many of google searches to try and back up his therory but have come up empty. He says the way it works is the blood flows from your finger to your nose and by pinching that finger it restricts bloodflow to the nose and stops the bleeding faster.

 

Can this be scientifically proven or disproven?

[wolfson]

Well yes by a strict controlled survey...... but using the EPF standard is tilting forward and applying immediate pressure to affected area, this works perfectly controlled bleeding after 40sec's it should have stoped.... providing there are no haemophilia disorders or any hematological disease.

[Squintz]

That is the way that i was taught but her remedy seemed to work instantly when her 3yr old daughter gets nose bleeds. (She likes to pick her nose)

 

But is there any documentation of blood flowing from the finger to the nose.

[YT2095]

maybe you only got HALF the sentence he was trying to say? Pinching the left (or right) Index finger against the thumb un opposition across the nassal passage where the bone meets the cartlidge in the nose will indeed arrest blood flow, the rest I don`t remmember, but you have to tilt the head either forwards or back too and hold the pressure for a good 3 to 4 mins.

I`m sure Glider will know the exact details.

but in an emergency, don`t use any of that alternative stuff, do what the medics say or basic 1`st Aid manuals say first, it`s not worth the risk trying the "Hong Kong Fooey" stuff and being wrong!

[wolfson]

Tiling the head back has been replaced as it is a possible chocking hazard.

[Squintz]

grrrrrr.... Forget the nosebleed stuff!!! Does the blood flow from your finger(Any finger) to your nose and is it possible to restrict blood flow to it by pinching the finger.

 

are there any veins or arteries that do this? I know if your squirty blood from a main artery that you should pinch the artery off to slow blood flow but is this true for the nose.

 

Im certain that i got the whole sentence. Im wondering if maybe he did not get the whole sentence and passed it on wrong. It seems to work all the time but im not sure if its my mind tricking me into thinking that it really works or if there are some scientific facts behind this.

 

Are there any diagrams that depicts the way our blood flows? Does are blood have a constant path or does it flow freely?

[YT2095]

basicly No, No, and No. having said that there would also be no "Scientific Diagrams" so that`s a No too. and as far I know, Blood takes the easiest path for the heart, so I`de go with the freely bit as opposed to through our fingers and stuff

as I mentioned before, Glider`s really the guy to ask about this

[Dudde]

dangit, wolfson beat me to it.

 

tilting your head back is a bad idea with nosebleeds, especially in small children

[iglak]

Squintz said in post #6 :

im not sure if its my mind tricking me into thinking that it really works.

yes it is

the absolute best remedy for stopping a nosebleed is to use mind over matter techniques. meditate and slow your heartbeat. think about the nose bleed stopping, and think about restricting blood to your nose. and you can't just think it, you have to believe it. the tilting and pinching helps a bit too.

 

i know because i have a few friends who get nosebleeds a lot and have taken stopping one to an art form. my nose has never bled though.

[Glider]

Does blood flow from any finger to the nose? Well, yes...eventually. There is no direct connection though.

 

Starting at the heart (right ventricle) blood flows from there to the lungs via the pulmonary artery. From the lungs it flows back to the left atrium, and into the left ventricle (the heart is a double pump). The blood leaves the left ventricle via the aorta. The first branches from the aortic arch are the brachiocelphallic (which in turn splits into the right subclavian and the right common carotid), then the left common carotid, then the left subclavian.

 

The subclavian arteries turn into the Axillary arteries at the shoulders and become the brachial arteries as they descend into the medial aspect of the upper arms. These arteries supply the arms (and by extension, the hands and fingers).

 

The left and right common carotids split at the neck (about the point where the lower jaw meets the neck) into the internal and external carodid arteries. The internal carotid feeds into the circle of Willis and supplies the brain. The external carotid branches into the lingual artery (supplying areas under the lower jaw) the facial artery (supplying the outer lower jaw and front of the face - outside the skull) and the maxillary artery, which supplies the inside of the face (inside the skull) and the maxillary sinus. This is the one that supplies blood to the the membranes that bleed in nose bleed.

 

So, whilst arguably the entire circulatory system is connected, the direct connection between blood supply to the fingers and the nose stops at the aorta, and don't rejoin again until the superior vena cava (the venous equivalent of the aorta).

 

In short, no. Blood does not flow from your finger to your nose.

 

To get from any finger to the nose, blood has to go back to the heart (right atrium - right ventricle - lungs - left atrium - left ventricle - common carotid) and then to the nose.

[Squintz]

We'll that just about sums it up. Thanx for your very detailed answer glider. Also thanx for you answer iglak, the mind over matter is probably why it works.

 

I love this forum!