Improvised arm break treatment in medieval ages
Hello! I have multiple questions on this one scenario, I hope that's all right :)
Setting: I am writing a piece set in the "dark ages" around the time of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Arthurian legends. In the fandom canon knowledge and treatment of diseases and injuries is more advanced than it actually was at the time. For example there is knowledge of ( Read more... )
Setting: I am writing a piece set in the "dark ages" around the time of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Arthurian legends. In the fandom canon knowledge and treatment of diseases and injuries is more advanced than it actually was at the time. For example there is knowledge of ( Read more... )
In my case it took about 2 weeks longer to heal than it was supposed to, 8 rather than 6, I think precisely because there was no plaster or anything keeping it from jiggling about. And I was nine and was not that careful with it - almost deliberately careLESS because I resented it so much, though I still remember being devastated and hating the doctor when I thought I was only a fortnight away from being able to take the sling off and they told me it would be another month.
I don't know what difference serious wonkiness would make - if I have any it's very slight. You can't see anything. As I say I suppose if there had ever been any sign there was going to be a real problem, they would have done something about it - but my experience does show that it CAN heal fine without anything much being done. Aside from a vague and possibly untrustworthy memory of an x-ray, the only thing that makes me even suspect it's not quite right is - well, you know this yoga position? Bending my left arm up behind my back, I can do it easily, but with my right arm? Can't get it up my back at all. Hands stuck about a foot apart. But there may be no connection to the break whatsoever. Typing it suddenly made me think it was silly even to think so - but googling does reveal people complaining of loss of range of movement. And sometimes I think it aches, when it's cold. But then I get other odd pains in my bones.
In any case, I don't think it would make much difference to my ability with a sword, if I had any! I suppose my arm must have been weaker and skinnier when the sling came off, but I didn't notice much difference, (I was weedy already) I'm pretty sure it must have recovered quickly.
Your fellow would probably notice lost strength more as he'd be relying on it more and have more to lose. But in the long run, and assuming a comparable break to begin with, I think he'd be for all practical purposes the same as ever. But if you wanted a more obvious long-term problem or a more difficult healing process, you could have the break be a "spiral fracture" or badly displaced, or located differently, or generally nastier in some other way.
I just did some searching and found this book, which says "fortunately, in the upper arm, malalignment rarely creates any functional loss. The flexibility of the shoulder allows most angular or rotational malalignment to be compensated." But if you haven't already I recommend searching "fractured humerus recovery", "fractured humerus flexibility," etc.
Maybe more details about the pain would be helpful to you? I remember it as a a sort of cold feeling inside the arm. Not severe, as I said, but deep somehow. I let myself be half convinced it wasn't really broken because it didn't hurt that much and because that's what the grown-ups, including the doctor who examined me to begin with, seemed to think. But on some level I knew it was - despite the relative lack of pain all my instincts were telling me this was something more serious than I'd had before.
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Anyway thanks 100 times for the detail! That was so useful and helpful and gah xD Have a nice day!
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