Hypo Wrap

Tom RaderStaff - June 2, 2021

You can build a “Hypo Wrap” for a patient using a few simple materials. At a minimum, you will need a large tarp, sleeping bag (or blanket), large gar
[See the full post at: Hypo Wrap]

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I like the mention of using materials you likely already have in your Go Bag (tarp, trash bags, cordage) to create the same effect as commercial, special-purpose products.

It’s also useful to mention that you can use this technique even if you don’t have hypothermia – e.g. even if you just want to stay warm, conserve heat, or may be not mobile for some period of time.

Suggestion: This topic would benefit from picture images or diagrams, with text descriptions of each step. Then it would be fast and easy to reference each step without having to watch through and find a specific place in the video.

 

smart use of the splint.
what would you do if they had to pee? I agree with the concept of the wrap, it could get you through the night but I wonder if a small shelter would be suitable if you could get a fire going and you were able to eat, drink and urinate.
This is a good tarp skill to have if the circumstances called for a wrap. Good stuff.

 

Giving them a bottle to pee in or unwrapping them and letting them urinate and then wrapping them up again is what I would do. You need to avoid them peeing themselves while in the wrap because they need to stay as dry as possible. 

An additional benefit of peeing in a bottle is that you then can place the bottle in the wrap with them as a 98.6 degree hot water bottle that will help keep them warmer for a while.

 

If someone is hypothermic enough that you’re doing this wrap to begin with, I’d rather have them pee inside than take the time/effort to open things back up, which also then loses the trapped heat you’ve already built up.

Shelter vs. wrap really depends on the circumstances. A hypo wrap is a shelter, just a small wearable one. If you can find/make shelter that’s just as good at protecting/trapping heat, then sure, that works. But the more air volume in a shelter, the harder it is to reach that goal.

 

You don’t mention anything about space blankets which I see in almost every IFAK. How would you use one in this scenario, if at all?

 

Space blankets (aka “mylar” blankets) are common in emergency kits, but are often overvalued / their usefulness is over exaggerated.

But if you have one and want to use it in a hypo wrap, you certainly could! It’s a reflective layer that bounces heat back toward the body, and to a lessor degree will help keep the warm interior air from escaping (which is already solved well by the other layers wrapped around the patient). But note it’s not an inherently insulating layer since there isn’t air trapped inside the blanket itself, the way air is trapped in a sleeping bag or jacket.  

Note this means it’s counterproductive to wrap the mylar in a way that’s reflecting outward — you want energy coming in from the sun to warm up the patient / the layers in the burrito, not bounce it back away from them. If it’s reflective on both sides, what you lose is less than what you gain, so it’s still worth it.

You can layer it into the wrap with the reflective side toward the patient. The further away the mylar layer is from the patient, the less it will reflect their body heat back to them. So I’d make it the first layer around their body, or the second layer if I had the trash bag / equivalent idea as the first layer to trap sweat.  

If I had one mylar blanket + other stuff I could use to make a wrap (tarp, clothing layers, etc), I may try to conserve the mylar for something else, such as a reflective shelter. The act of using the mylar in this burrito will likely tear it. But if everything else is okay / it’s not a major SHTF event and I’m just dealing with one hypothermic person, then sure, use it.