Stabbed in the leg

Just a simple stab? In and out, without going too deep, without a slashing motion, no major blood vessels hit, no muscle/tendon bisection, no nerve damage? That kind of a wound?

It'd hurt quite a bit, and it would require stitches, but sure, he'd be able to walk. It's uncomfortable but not crippling; wouldn't recommend going for a jog tho. Takes about 3-4 weeks to heal to normal, with maybe some residual pain under strain for a few weeks longer.

If, however, you hit some muscle/tendon... no walking on that leg, and here's hoping your world has good medical care.

Go with the easy slash. You get the pain without the logistical headaches of heavy follow-up care.

A slash that stays short of the muscles would likely heal in about two weeks, wouldn't really inhibit the use of the leg... and would almost certainly require stitches.

srgalactica said:

In my fantasy novel, one of my characters gets stabbed in the leg. Specifically, the outer thigh. There is magic in the world, so infection is not an issue, but the magic won't heal it.

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??? By what Fantasy trope does magic prevent infection?

srgalactica said:

My question is, about how long will it take to heal and would the character be able to walk on it, or would they need something like crutches?

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Honestly, this is a weird question. On one hand, you invoke magic to prevent infection, on the other you seem to want info on nitty-gritty down-to-good-ol'-non-magical-Earth medical issues.

How deep was the wound? What did it damage? A stab in the thigh that hits the femoral artery is a VERY serious, commonly deadly wound. Severed muscle, severed nerve, lots of options for the outcome and healing process.

You're writing the story. Make it work the way you need it to work.

caw

I'm with blacbird on this. If you are going to use magic, you may need to explain this in your novel because the magic is somehow going to have to protect the inside as well as the outside of the wound. There are many elements that can cause infection and once it's in your blood it could spread. These organisms basically wage war against your immune system.

http://www.woundcarecenters.org/wound-types/infected-wounds.html

srgalactica said:

Alrighty. Maybe I don't understand my own question well enough to be asking it. My concern was making it plausible for my character to sustain a a stabbing (or possibly slashing) injury to her outer thigh, that would not damage the muscle, artery, nerves, etc. Something that would lay her up for a few weeks.

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You want an injury that puts her out of commission for several weeks but that doesn't actually do any damage?

The only way you'll avoid damaging muscles would be if you just scratch the skin. The thigh is pretty much nothing but muscle, with the femur, arteries, veins and nerves squished in between. Once you penetrate the skin, there's muscle, and lots of it (twelve or fifteen, depending on how you count.) Doesn't mean the injury is necessarily serious, but without specifics it's hard to tell when, and if, it heals.

Regarding infections, a substance with antibacterial properties is not remotely enough to make infection no longer an issue.
Falling into the sea won't help. The salt water people want you to put on wounds is supposed to be saline, a sterile sodium chloride solution with a salinity much lower than sea water.

srgalactica said:

Ok...well then I guess this plot point won't work. I'm not really sure how other authors pull these types of things off in their novels. It seems like it simply isn't possible for anyone to be injured in a fantasy novel without magical healing and not be completely f*ed up.

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Don't know if this helps, but my brother was stabbed in the thigh when he was a teen. Right smack dab in the middle of the front of thigh. The blade was only three or four inches and most of it went in. He said it hurt but wasn't terrible (he has an abnormal pain tolerance). He went home and (our dad's a veterinarian, so all the needed medical supplies were at hand) cleaned and treated the wound himself (the cleaning, he said, hurt worse than the actual stabbing). He walked with a slight limp for a few weeks. The stabbing didn't damage anything other than muscle, it didn't really lay him up but it certainly slowed him down for the better part of a month.

Some people did survive injuries in the Medieval period, but stab wounds are more likely to be a problem as infection goes in deep. Cats get really nasty puncture wounds from biting each other when fighting. Treatment is flushing it out with antiseptic (hibiscrub solution) plus antibiotics. Have to keep picking off the scab and flushing for several days to ensure all the yuck is cleaned out.

Why not a really bad bruise? Or pulled muscle? That can get you limping for a good long time and there isn't infection risk involved.

srgalactica said:

Ok...well then I guess this plot point won't work. I'm not really sure how other authors pull these types of things off in their novels. It seems like it simply isn't possible for anyone to be injured in a fantasy novel without magical healing and not be completely f*ed up.

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Because the other authors make their characters really lucky?

But seriously, I don't think it would strain credulity to have your character stabbed, miss anything that would make it a major, life-threatening injury, and allow for full recovery within your specified time period. You could have your magic user apply a paste or some such to the surface of the wound in hopes of averting infection. Then when the character does inevitably get an infection, the magic user is right there and is prepared. A couple of doses of spell-enhanced 'mucka juice' and the infection is cleared, the character recovers, the wound heals, Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt, and away they go to get hurt again!

I'd certainly buy events happening that way and I've been reading fantasy since I was about 16 (that's about 40 years and I read a LOT).

I honestly don't understand some of the snarky and condescending answers to this question. Is AW not a place where people help each other anymore?

It's a bloody fantasy world. Why the hell can't magic stave off infection but not completely heal a wound?

To the OP. I just don't think you need to go into much detail about the wound. For me, having the healer explain the gist of what they did and an educated guess of how long he/she should stay off it would be enough. It's your world, you make the rules.

Hope that helps.

A.

alldis said:

I honestly don't understand some of the snarky and condescending answers to this question. Is AW not a place where people help each other anymore?

It's a bloody fantasy world. Why the hell can't magic stave off infection but not completely heal a wound?

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I guess it varies with people but I didn't see anything snarky and condescending in this thread at all. Investigative, analytical, reasoned and detailed yes. Also helpful. Sometimes the answer is "no", not "yes".

Providing a magical system is consistent and not too super powerful you can make most things be believed. But people have a variety of levels of suspension of disbelief and the detail is where it is at. You clearly are happy with one level of magic use, not everyone is. So I for one am happy as to what your opinion is as to what magic can and cannot do, but I also think that if other posters have different expectations of what magic can and cannot achieve that is also valid.

srgalactica said:

Because this isn't an incidental injury. Essentially, I have one of the villain's lackeys (character B) being intentionally vindictive because of something the POV character (character A) did. Character B wants to cause Character A some pain before she finishes her off. I thought I nice stabby stab to the thigh would hurt like a mo-fo. Also, Character A survives and is a pretty physical (fighter-type) and I kinda wanted to take that ability away from her for awhile.

I've already got Character A permanently losing a finger in this fight scene as well.

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Just for completeness - by bruise I mean a really, whacking great bruise that will take weeks to heal - the sort you'd get from a serious kicking. Not saying "use bruise" just making sure you understand the seriousness of bruises. I picked up one heck of a one once from slipping on the stairs and falling four steps to the hall - limped for quite a while. Yes, I did land on something soft.........

Also remember with your injury of choice that it probably drags down your character as she won't sleep too well with the pain - unless she can afford some decent painkillers as well. Chemical painkillers of course can have side effects. Over to you on magical painkillers.

srgalactica said:

Because this isn't an incidental injury. Essentially, I have one of the villain's lackeys (character B) being intentionally vindictive because of something the POV character (character A) did. Character B wants to cause Character A some pain before she finishes her off. I thought I nice stabby stab to the thigh would hurt like a mo-fo. Also, Character A survives and is a pretty physical (fighter-type) and I kinda wanted to take that ability away from her for awhile.

I've already got Character A permanently losing a finger in this fight scene as well.

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Appreciate this is just a snippet not the full scene. As what you've said stands, you are saying
1. A loses a finger
2. B deliberately stabs A in the leg to cause her pain before finishing her off.
3. A is a fighter-type

The questions this raises for me are:

When A is stabbed in the leg is she already immobilised in some way, so that B can deliberately pick a target?

How well trained is B? Any well trained fighter would know the effect of any given target area on a human body, so you are saying that B is hitting a target she knows is not lethal, just painful and will shortly thereafter go for a killing blow?

And a general comment - a stab in the thigh such as you are describing could just happen in the course of the fight without any especial malice. Parry - reposte is drilled into all sword users from day 1 and if you take a parry with the point below the midline of the body, then the reposte can go into the thigh.

alldis said:

I honestly don't understand some of the snarky and condescending answers to this question. Is AW not a place where people help each other anymore?

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If you have a problem with any of the replies, report them using that little triangle under your avatar. Please don't turn the thread into a discussion about other posters.


Folks, we're veering away from the actual question posted here. Can you keep it on topic, pease.

I have asked politely, now I'll be more direct. Do not comment on the tone of other posts in the thread. If there's a problem, let me know by reporting the post.

Bolero said:

Some people did survive injuries in the Medieval period, but stab wounds are more likely to be a problem as infection goes in deep. Cats get really nasty puncture wounds from biting each other when fighting.

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The reason cat bites infect most of the time is because cats' mouths are absolutely 'filthy' with pathogenic bacteria. Same with monkeys and humans. Dogs, not so much. Dogs can rip each other up in a fight far beyond what cats can manage, but about half the time the resulting wounds will not become infected (even if very deep). Knives are not inherently 'filthy' either. The knife you just used to gut a deer or smeared with feces, yeah. The knife that's been cleaned and oiled, not so much. (Bacteria needs nutrients to thrive. Steel kinda lacks this, and oil may inhibit growth.)

In any event, in a fantasy world I don't have a problem with infection control as separate from other 'healing'. What the OP has in mind sounds reasonable to me. Just be consistent about it.

As to how disabling it is for how long, there are factors other than just the size and placement of the wound. Movement that prevents healing can be an issue, as is individual pain tolerance. Fudge factors like "lucky it didn't cut anything major" and how much she can tolerate before she has to stop moving can be adjusted as required.

I'm reminded of a ML baseball player who'd suffered a microtear in the small muscles between the ribs (we're talkin' maybe a quarter of an inch). Most of the time he was fine, but if he'd swing and miss, it hurt so bad he'd go down in a heap and couldn't get up for a couple minutes, and this was a tough guy who'd shrug off being nailed with a 90mph fastball. This went on for several months, then it healed literally between one day and the next and that was the end of it.