Injury needed: leg/hip or pelvic injury

[weavernaut]

Here's the deal: I need an injury that would a) be difficult to manage b) take a long time to heal c) leave the patient with a permanent limp and a need for a walking stick.
The other requirement is that it'd be an injury resulting from the character being picked up and bodily thrown against the ground, possibly hitting a curb, so a dislocated knee

Comments

[visitkarte]

Pelvic injury would be disastrous in the 1920es, ending probably with an amputation. I have seen historic pelvic injuries managed with Gidrlestone method. This was developed 1940, but the principle stands: You can walk with a missing hip joint, just not too hot. I've seen a guy with that injury walking with a cane only, for more than 50 years.

http://www.moteclife.co.uk/docs/Education/Trends%20in%20fracture%20Management%20-%20lecture.pdf

You could make it easier and choose a distal (near the knee) femur fracture, treated by distention and splinting, 6 weeks in bed and non perfect alignment. That was usually the best possible outcome back those days, keeping the leg after all.

[lilacsigil]

Any injury can leave the patient with a permanent limp and need for a walking stick. A pelvic fracture would be either horribly serious and possibly fatal OR too little to cause issues for your patient. People fall in strange ways, so you can pretty much have injury to order if he's being thrown against a curb, and a dislocated knee sounds ideal. These days, doctor try to get patients up and moving ASAP, but in the 1920s, it would be at least 6 weeks bedrest in a full cast for a serious knee dislocation (or a broken ankle, also possible), would of course then cause muscle weakness and possibly never heal quite right.

[full_metal_ox]

Seconding the idea of knee dislocation, which can be a gift that keeps on giving: knee cartilage tends to be a non-renewable resource, and such an injury can create a vulnerability to repeat dislocations.

[laur_kenobi]

Don't want to hijack this or anything but I asked a knee related question earlier this week and I got great response. You might want to look here: http://little-details.livejournal.com/3264597.html

Mind you mine was all done thinking modern day, so I would suspect all of those injuries would just be worse in the 1920's.