#hamstringing

Oh that an OUCH-

The whumpee had tried to run away far too many times, the whumper had been merciful before but not anymore,they refused to be taken advantage of.

The whumpee tries to walk but it hurts so much, their body just wants to collapse and stay still for the rest of time but the whumper still orders them around.

Hi Anon.:)

 I shouldpreface this with the fact that I’m not a doctor. I did run the injury side ofit past ScriptMedic though.

 As you’reprobably already aware, that kind of injury is going to hobble your character.I assumed that it would be a permanent but apparently with surgery and properaftercare your character can recover. It would take months and it would beincredibly painful but your character could walk again.

 This link has a personal account from someone who had anaccident which severed the Achilles tendon, which should give you anidea of the recovery times at least. You might want to consult ScriptMedic ifyou’d like more detail on how surgery and physio would look for yourcharacter.  

 Beforetreatment your character isn’t going to be able to walk. Their feet will hangloosely from their ankles and they might not be able to move them much. Theywon’t be able to put weight on their feet.

 Theymight not be able to get any sort of mobility aid from their captors, I don’tknow exactly where you’d want to go with this but withholding medical aid is apretty standard practice among torturers. If they can get something I don’tthink crutches would be useful, a wheelchair might be though.

 Asidefrom infection and the affect on mobility I don’t think there’s anythingparticular about this wound that you’d need to consider. There aren’t any majorarteries there so the character is unlikely to bleed to death.

 This wasdone in the past, quite a lot. Certainly in Haiti during slavery and I’ve seenreferences elsewhere. Generally it seems to have been survivable historically.I think it was generally referred to as ‘hamstringing’ in Europe, searching forthat should help you find historical accounts if you’re interested ineyewitness accounts or victim experiences. I think infection would be the main risk. Ifthe torturer has been careful, the character is allowed medical treatment (ieclean bandages), the character is allowed to wash and the place/instruments areall sanitary then I think the main effect would be stopping your character fromwalking.

 I hope thathelps.

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