Tiktok: Survival guides trump dance challenges as war rages on

A Canadian doctor has created a Tiktok video showing how to make an "improvised tourniquet the right way," to stop bleeding during war.


Forget about dances and amusing challenges of the moment. On TikTok, the war in Ukraine has changed the type of content that is surfacing on the platform. For example users can learn how to make a tourniquet thanks to the social network.

On TikTok, survival guides have replaced dance tutorials. The user @survival.doctors, who introduces himself as Dr. Teimojin Tan, has gone viral on the Chinese social network, and this time it’s not because of a trend or a fashionable dance, but because of the war in Ukraine.

More precisely, the medic has gone viral due to a video showing the different steps of creating a tourniquet, which met with genuine success on the platform. The 2-minute video has reached 1.3 million views and almost 400,000 “Likes” in just four days, despite the account having “only” 234,100 subscribers.

@survival.doctors Improvised #firstaidtips for those in #ukrainewar #ukrainetiktok #survivalmedicine #russianinvasion #medicaltiktok #medicalfacts ♬ original sound – ????????????????????????????????.????????????????????????s

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In the video, Dr. Tan shows how to make an “improvised tourniquet the right way,” in order to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible, “in light of what’s happening in Ukraine,” he says.

“Massive hemorrhage from the arms and legs is one of the most lethal and preventable injuries you can have in a war zone,” he explains at the beginning of his video.

A real survival guide adapted to a situation where time is of the essence, says this professional. This type of content differs from the videos usually trending on the Chinese social network, but that is being appreciated by many users of the platform.

Commenters have not hesitated to share their stupefaction at the terrible events of recent days in Europe: “I can’t believe I’m living in a time when I’m studying this video just in case,” commented a user, who collected more than 25,000 “Likes.” “I can’t believe we are learning how to survive war in 2022. It’s 2022 and it’s war. omg,” commented another user.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Dr. Teimojin Tan works at Grey Bruce Health Services in Ontario, Canada, and often offers videos on TikTok that teach reflexes to better react to a life-threatening injury.

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