Hi there. I may have asked this before - I apologize if I have. Would someone be able to walk, or maybe limp while holding on to a wall, after being in a stress position (bucking, not suspended or beaten) for ~five hours? What would recovery from that look like in terms of how long it’d take and what they’d have to do?
Well it depends on the stress position so thank you very much fortelling me which one you have in mind. :)
For something like standing cuffs I’d say a victim would almostcertainly be able to walk after 5 hours. For bucking-
So for reference and readers that aren’t familiar with the term buckingis a stress position. The victim sits with their knees bent and their arms goaround the knees with the hands tied together. A stick is then put between theelbows and the knees and the victim is lifted by the stick into the air. They hangupside down with their weight resting on the inside of the knee joint. It’sincredibly painful and has a long slavery-related history in the Americas.
I think the victim would certainly be able to move after five hours butI’m unsure how far they’d able to walk or whether they’d be able to walkupright.
Their knees are going to hurt a lot; their feet might be completelynumb. The pressure from the entire weight of their body is wedged on thetendons that control the knee joint. They’d probably have some difficultybending and straightening their knees and getting their legs to support theirbody weight.
I think they’d recover that pretty quickly, perhaps even while they’retrying to get away. They certainly wouldn’t be able to run straight afterwards.
Actually that’s probably where I’m tripping up with regards to theirability to walk. I don’t think a lotof people would be able to walk without collapsing immediately after five hoursbucking. If the character has the opportunity to rest for a little while, eventen or twenty minutes, I think they’d be much more likely to be able to stand.Especially if they have support (ie the wall).
There’s also a certain amount that this depends on the victim. How fitthey are, how heavy they are, how old they are. There’d be quite a lot ofindividual variance.
I think if your character is an adult and very physically fit/strong Imight accept them walking sooner. If they’re very young, old or notparticularly physically fit- then I’d probably expect it to be a more difficultprocess. Anyone heavier, fit or not, would struggle because this torturedepends on the victim’s body weight.
Generally- I think the character could probably get away from where theywere tortured. They might be crawling some of the way. They’d probably fallover a few times. They might struggle to find and keep their footing. They’d bein a lot of pain.
Recovery from stress positions pretty much boils down to resting,eating, drinking a lot of water and moving freely. If a character had been leftlong enough to develop ulcers they’d need further treatment but five hoursisn’t nearly enough time to see ulcers developing (unless the character has aserious medical condition making them prone to skin ulcers).
It would be easier if your character has someone who can take care ofthem for a while. But in this case, in terms of their physical recovery, I don’t think it’s essential. What they reallyneed is a safe place to get a good night’s sleep and as much food and cleanwater as they can stand.
The long term psychological effects are something people generally needsupport with. I won’t discuss them because I get the impression the ask isfocused on the character’s escape and immediate health needs afterwards. Thepsychological effects should come into the story later, they will have amassive impact on the character. But they’re less important in the immediateaftermath.