Dislocated joints are actually very fun whump concepts. Think about it:
First you have the initial injury. Be it a dislocated shoulder, hip, knee, all potential locations are dehibilitating, losing the use of that arm or being unable to walk, etc.
Also that every time the whumpee tries to move the dislocated limb they risk making it worse and intensify the pain.
Then... then you have treatment. Forcing a dislocated joint back into place is NOT FUN. Not for the whumpee, not for the caretaker. And if someone inexperienced tries and messes it up... oh boy oh boy we making it worse!
And of course you have all the issues that might come about after the joint is fixed, such as strained muscles, sprained ligaments and tendons, nerve damage, vascular (blood vessel) issues, stiff joints/osteoarthritis... the list goes on.
Anyway thinking about this bc someone I know irl dislocated both their knees on separate occasions, (and it took like four medical professionals to put it back in place). Also I remembered a scene in Mom's Night Out (2014) where Sam dislocates his shoulder and instead of letting a medical professional set it he slammed. His shoulder. Into a wall. And shoved it back in place. In the storming emergency room. In front of the receptionist. I cringe every time.
Anything for dislocated joints? Character being nauseous at the sight and the reluctance toward getting it out into place? Maybe resetting it in a not-so-ideal scenario?
“It’s fine, just leave it for now.” The whumpee said the entire mission because they could face a shoot-out, but not having their arm put back into place.
The whumpee is happy to dislocate anything for the sake of escape, but hate having it put back.
Setting it in the field, but having to dislocate it, then reset it back in medical because they didn’t do it right the first time.
Having nerve damage in that area.
The whumpee has dislocated [joint] so many times, that they have lasting weakness/pain in that area.
Your whumpee using a makeshift sling to support the limb.
“Why is your arm hanging like that?” “Not important.”
“You will take a bullet to the leg, witness horrors beyond our imagination and take an iv without flinching... but you refuse to even look at your dislocated knee?” “... it gives me the ick.”
“Hey guys, watch this!” *whumpee easily pops body part out and in again (for whatever the event calls for)* Everyone quietly: “what the fuck.”
TW/CW!!: Finger snapping, hand/finger stomped on, dislocation, severe mistreatment, pet-related whump/servant whump, dislocated joints, masquerade party
Calming, dark victorian music would be playing throughout the whole manor, it was something Ashtyn had never seen he believes, although he has heard all about these sorts of things. But was he ever at one in his life beforehand? No. And especially not as a servant, he’s been standing there for god knows how long, ever since the party started, watching as men, and women would enter the ballroom, in their fancy masks, greeting each one, getting pecked at from time to time, after all. He was just 17 soon to be 18, and it was something to these “people” to see such a young man working.
The man who had taken him in the first place would be standing across the room, handing out glasses and greeting his guests with a pleasant satisfied smile, as Ashtyns leg grew stiff, he had no choice but to stand still with his tray of wine glasses, no one has requested for the young man, he definitely looked sharp but, if they only knew how exhausted he was. Was he just going to stand there all night long? He couldn’t, he just could-
“Ashtyn.”
Ashtyns head perked up and looked around meeting the eyes of this man, who had taken him in earlier this year, his name would be “Gabriel Schaeffer”. He owned this fancy large estate, being quite wealthy in the business he had created for himself, housing ashtyn here as his “Guard dog” a pathetic one sure, but a "Good dog". Nodding towards Gabriel.
“Come over here, there's some men here that’d like to speak with you.”
Gabriels' hand would wave over to Ashtyn, to Ashtyns demise his legs were so stiff, and holding a tray of fancy wine glasses, his heart sort of dropped, his eyes looking down at his legs standing there for a moment, his facial expression went sour the moment he attempted to move his leg, it instantly sending sharp pains, looking for somewhere he could maybe place the tray down. Oh no. He’d look around even more anxious, there was no table nearby he could set it down or anyone he could even ask if he could in the first place! When he looked back over at “Mr. Scaeffer” his eyes were locked deadly on Ashtyns, examining every moment Ashtyn made, Ashtyns face went pale, panic drowned him, immediately broke eye contact with Mr. Schaeffer
Ashtyn had no choice there, he had to move, he would quickly attempt moving his leg down a few inches in front of him, regretting right then, his whole body weight piling onto that leg, pain screamed in his face, scrunching all of his facial features together, him stumbling forward all at once, eyes would jump onto ashtyn with that stumble, shit! He needed to get himself together quickly- he can’t do this. Not now, he really needed to stop this.
He’d wave the tray in front of himself as an attempt to gain some balance in the pose he was in, his legs still trembling, and once when he finally gained that ounce of balance he needed back to regain all of the balance back in his body, his legs fell asleep. Falling straight forward, yelping out in utter surprise, the glasses.. Shattering across the floor with wine splattered and staining the wood floors, Ashtyns arms bringing themselves to cover his face, he stayed there in silence, not daring to stand up, he **knew** all eyes were on him, the eyes hidden by these sparkly, shiny, mysterious masks, he even started to hear whispering.
He could just curl up in a ball right there and die
”ASHTYN.”
His heart sunk right in his stomach his leg twitching, his face planted right on his forearms, heels would click against the floorboards getting louder and louder, after this loud clatter of a wine glass getting set down on what can be assumed as one of the glass tables sat out, the clicks of gabes heels would grow so loud it felt as if ashtyns ears were ringing, they were ringing. They had to be ringing. He didn’t dare to look up, his heart pounding against his own skin*
The whispering would come to a halt fully when Mr. Schaeffer stopped, the heels stopped out of nowhere, Ashtyn would stay there.. Surprisingly, he couldn't find the strength to look up at this tall, strong, looming man who was furious with him, if it wasn’t apparent enough, everyone was watching surely. It’d be dead silence for about a minute, Mr Schaeffer waiting there with his eyes locked on Ashtyn, before speaking up again, there was obvious disappointment founded there
**”Alright. You don’t want to get up and deal with this like a man? Prop your hands out, both of them”
*Ashtyn’s eyes would look up, his eyes instead looking up at Mr. Schaeffer, they went to the tray which was kicked aside of Mr. Schaeffers left heel, he must have not heard that.. The heel clicks were so brain numbing, he couldn’t focus on anything else. Then gradually looked over at Mr. Schaeffer, they were bloodshot red, wiping his eyes slightly with his shoulder, just looking around. He felt nauseous when he actually saw all of the eyes on him, reading the eyes from person to person, each one were different, but they were all looking at ashtyn with curiosity, why did Mr. Schaeffer need his hands, after enough looking around he hurriedly looked back up at Mr. Schaeffer himself.. Hestitanly holding his hands out, holding them out as if they were waiting to receive a treat, as if they were puppy paws, he was surely going to pay for taking so long to put them out*
“ACK!! AH! OW!!!!”
Ashtyn screamed, biting down on his lip as he’d attempt pulling his hand back, fighting off tears painfully, stinging hot tears, only able to squeeze one of his hands out, as the party guests gasped almost on command, just trying to squeeze his fingers away, Mr. Schaeffers heels had stomped right on ashtyns fingers, keeping them trapped, the more he tried to get his fingers released, his tears would weep themslelves out
”PL-PLEASE-SIR! IMSORRYI-ImSORRY!”
Ashtyn hurriedly yelped out, his teeth chattering against each other, his eyes widening as they opened seeing his fingers getting squeezed by the twisting motions of Mr. Schaeffers heel, there was no remorse on Mr. Scaeffers end though. Infact he had a small, half lipped wide smile, his eyes eventually meeting Ashtyns, with the smile dropping as he made eye contact
“Other hand, Ashtyn.”
Ashtyns head would drop, tears dripping right onto the floorboards, his back hunching upwards before dropping flat, his other hand slowly, gradually placing itself out, it was shaking in fear, flinching horribly every few seconds, some giggling being heard in the crowd of people, he felt shame, he felt hopeless, he felt horrible, he felt dreadful, he deserved this though..- All of that would be cut shortly as his other hand got stomped on, his whole body shook as his cry was suffocated into his left shoulder, and his whole face was pink, the same pink tone an flamingo is
His fingers be crushed, one by one, underneath the force of Mr. Schaeffers heel, some pained grunting would come from ashtyn as each one was crushed, letting out a sharp cry when he heard that little..
CRACK!
His heart dropped, as the pain was imaciline, it was so awful, he didnt know.. How long he’d have to bear with this, did his fingers break? It really felt like the bone broke, dislocated.. Maybe.. There was a crack from the bone, and cracks. Theyre never good, and the fact that the heel dug in deeper. That did the trick
***“ACGH! AHH!!-!!!! AH!!”**
Ashtyns head shot up, screaming on top of his lungs, his scream grew rasp, as his dog collar flashed itself, jesus. The heel really dug all the way through his skin, It.. It fucking dislocated! He.. He broke out into sobs in the dark environment, sobbing the same way a baby would, he couldnt bear this, and when the heel moved onto his thumb, he was trembling with everything he had not to move his hand away, it would get worse if he tried moving his hands away. So.. He kept them out on this ‘wonderful’ display. Just as expected with enough pressure applied with the jamming on his thumb, it dislocated, emerged this blood-curdling scream out of him planting his head against his tricep banging it against his own tricep to take out some frustration, these hot stinging tears streamed down his face and didnt take a break on Ashtyn, no, no, no.*
“Alright kid, easy part is over.”
This hard, grimy, stressful pressure on his thumb would be lifted, ashtyns heart skipping a beat after that was said, easy part..? What..? His eyes would slowly look up at Mr. Schaeffer, they were bloodshot red with pink puffed cheeks, w-wha-..? His hands shook around in a bubble almost. He- Why didn’t he just get up in the first place?! W-Why?
His knees would had already themselves up to Ashtyns chest, barely holding the capability of even building himself up, as he nodded, uttering out a tear-filled* “Y-Yes. Sir!!” *his emotional state was hinted in his breaking-up voice, as he’d slowly stumble up, collecting himself together last moment his hands dropping to his side, his eyes would take a look around suddenly, shame really struck him.
”Right, since you could not get up, *simple am I right?* And then get a mop and dust pan, *also simple*, you’ll pick up the glass with your hands and lick the wine off of the ground, I hope I make myself clear”
“..Y-Yes sir.”
Ashtyn was in shock, there’s no denying but, if he said the wrong thing here, think about how utterly humiliated he would be, in front of all of these people. I mean- he had already been humiliated to itty bits, he just had his fingers dislocated!
through his teary eyes they made their way back to the wine, slowly kneeling down with some snot and tears getting mixed on his face as he wiped his face with his sleeves the best he could, he’d attempt to keep his eyes away from the dislocated fingers.. maybe. If he didn’t look at them, they wouldnt feel so bad as if he did look at them.
Ashtyn bowed his head in stinging pain, struggling to do what Mr. Scaeffer requested. Lick the wine just hurriedly licking at the wine when he snapped back into the reality of things, Mr Schaefer was waiting, that. Did not do Ashtyn's fingers have any hood last time this man had to wait, did it?
Ashtyn would continuously licking on it, despite all of the shoes that had hit the spot, despite all of the grim that had once been on this floor, despite all of the people that had once stood on this spot, but hey! The floors are freshly shined but those humiliating thoughts was waving around the back of Ashtyn’s mind, as he’d lick, lick, and lick up the wine as well as he could, scraping his tongue on this spot
This wine licking would go on for quite some time, hurriedly trying to lick all of it all, even licking off of his tears at some point. Once he figured this would be good enough, he’d tilt his head up to look at Mr Schaefer, mumbling
“D-D— is this-is good enough..?”
”Speak up.”
Ahtyn would swallow this huge lump in his throat with his eyes perfectly facing Mr Schaffer’s eyes, before speaking up after a long pause of attempting not to cry
“D-.. do you think thi-this is good enough- sir?”
Mr schaeffers eyes would run across the floor it was clean, glossy even, only thing left was the broken glass left across the floor, he’d give Ashtyn this approving nod
It felt as if a weight just got lifted on him. But it was shortly put back on when he realized the glass, it was ensured that he was going to cut his hands on the glass, not to mention they hurled so much from earlier he doubted himself. But, what was he going to say? do?
He would scoot himself over to the ground where some of the first glass remained, some laughter could be heard from behind him, attempting to ignore it. He knew he looked stupid. He didn’t need anyone else to say it. his hands would approach one glass shard shakily attempting to grab it pricking his ring finger, ashtyn jumping back abit grinding his teeth back and forth to not scream or have a breakdown, he’d just attempt to grab it again instead with two hands, with some discussion stirring up, it most certainly was not good.
That glass shard pricked his ring finger once again, slicing it, he had no choice. He’d attempt a different technique, sweeping the glass onto his palm, which was shaking so, it wasnt all that good, but hey. Atleast it wasnt pricking his finger as much as the previous technique was, just picking up, dropping it, picking it back up nervously, prick. Sure the shards cut his fingers, but, what debate did ashtyn have?
When he was almost done, the glass shards he had collected would be stained bright red, with his finger tips having so many cuts, his hands were such a gory mess, it was honestly scary to ashtyn, the fact that he was doing this to himself, gave him the chills. Why? Hes always been hurt, in every way, why is it so heartbreaking now?
Once he was done, he’d place them on the tray with some glass shards still launched in some open cuts, although these glass shards were TINY, he couldn't deal with them now.. Maybe later on, but, his hands, he couldnt touch them, so. That is what made picking up the tray so difficult, the glass shards, the dislocated fingers, the pain, and the mental torment reminders from the frequent giggles from the crowd, he’d stay there adjusting his grip on the tray to hurt least, although. It was pretty much useless, he held it in both of his palms, standing up, standing right infront of Mr. Scaeffer, having a quivering lip
“Go put the tray in the dish washer, now. And head straight to your room, I am disappointed, I expected so much better out of you. And you know that.”
*takes muscle relaxers and pain medicine for subluxation*
Me: im not in pain and I can move around a bit. I was being dramatic and should have gone to work! Probably shouldn't have scheduled that doctor's appointment.
*medication wears off*
Me: I'm in so much pain. Do I need to go to the ER? Am I going to get any sleep tonight? I feel like I can't move. Help.
Going off what you said in that one ask, where a character being strung up by their wrists can cause nerve damage and pain throughout their arms, can it also cause damage to the shoulders?
Yes and after talking to a remedial massage therapist (they described it as ‘slightly below a physiotherapist in terms of qualifications) a few months back I realised that I’ve actually been underestimating the damage to shoulders in my answers.
I think there’s a lot of focus on nerve damage in my sources because it’s irreparable. Whereas theoretically most of the muscular and tendon damage suspension causes can be treated and people can see significant improvement.
However once you factor in the poverty of most torture survivors and the length of time it can take to see a doctor- Well the fact an injury is theoretically treatable becomes less relevant.
There are also several different methods of suspension by the wrists, some of which cause more injuries.
I’m guessing you’re referring to a scenario where the character’s hands are tied in front of them and they’re hoisted off the floor. That’s the scenario I write about most of the time.
However historically it was also pretty common to tie the victim’s hands behind the back (which dislocates the shoulders). This was also sometimes modified by repeatedly raising and dropping the victim. Which did further damage to the shoulders and could also cause broken bones in the legs.
There’s also a method that I’ve only seen referenced in historical Japan so far (which may be due to the fact I can’t read Chinese) which involved tying victims by their fingers. This resulted in the slow dislocation of every joint in the fingers.
Going with the scenario where the hands are tied in front of the character this can lead to really reduced mobility in the shoulder. Partly due to chronic pain and partly due to damage to the soft tissues around the joint.
The nerve damage can cause some interesting effects. Numbness and tingling sensations are common in people with ‘normal’ shoulder injuries, I haven’t seen reports of torture survivors discussing this but that might represent a lack of reporting rather then a lack of symptoms. It can also cause pain but interestingly the pain isn’t always at the site of the injury. It can be felt further down the nerve pathway. So a character might have a shoulder related nerve injury but feel pain further down their arm.
Posture and mobility responses to this chronic pain can actually make the damage worse if an injury is untreated in the long term. A character that’s hunching over a lot to try and relieve pain in their shoulders might actually be putting more pressure on the site of the injury, increasing their pain in the long term (ie months to years). Or they might be creating a situation where some of their muscles become relatively overdeveloped and other underdeveloped, which would then feed into decreased mobility in the shoulder.
My impression is that reduced shoulder mobility may not be as noticeable as reduced mobility in the hands. People seem to automatically adjust how they perform basic tasks in order to compensate for reduced mobility in the shoulders. This can cause the same kind of unusual muscle use I described above and that can lead to pain in different areas, like the neck.
Taking a step back I think the best way to think about shoulder injuries is to consider the character’s general health, how long and often they were suspended in the story and their access to medical care afterwards.
The impression I got from my conversation with the (extremely helpful, thank you) remedial massage therapist was that most of the shoulder injuries a suspension victim would get are treatable and there can be significant improvement. Both in terms of pain and mobility.
But the extent of that improvement depends on early access to medical care after the injury.
A character who is regularly suspended while they’re held, or suspended for a prolonged period (ie over 15 minutes) is going to have a more severe initial injury. An older character (50s onward) is also likely to have a more severe initial injury.
And the longer a character goes without having that initial shoulder injury assessed and treated, the worse the damage is likely to get. The way the character compensates for their shoulder injury over a long period of time will also cause problems, ranging from pain to further reduction in movement.
So a character who is suspended and also imprisoned for a year without treatment will be in a worse position then a character who is rescued after a week and taken straight to a doctor.
Now I don’t think I’m qualified to describe the kind of care a character would need for these shoulder injuries in detail. I know that they often involve extensive physiotherapy, lifestyle adjustments and sometimes surgery.
If you want a more detailed breakdown of treatments I’d suggest looking up muscular tears. These come in three grades with 1 being the least severe and 3 the most.
