Writing Traumatic Injuries References

So, pretty frequently writers screw up when they write about injuries. People are clonked over the head, pass out for hours, and wake up with just a headache… Eragon breaks his wrist and it’s just fine within days… Wounds heal with nary a scar, ever…

I’m aiming to fix that.

Here are over 100 links covering just about every facet of traumatic injuries (physical, psychological, long-term), focusing mainly on burns, concussions, fractures, and lacerations. Now you can beat up your characters properly!

General resources

WebMD

Mayo Clinic first aid

Mayo Clinic diseases

First Aid

PubMed: The source for biomedical literature

Diagrams: Veins (towards heart), arteries (away from heart) bones, nervous system, brain

Burns

General overview: Includes degrees

Burn severity: Including how to estimate body area affected

Burn treatment: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degrees

Smoke inhalation

Smoke inhalation treatment

Chemical burns

Hot tar burns

Sunburns

Incisions and Lacerations

Essentials of skin laceration repair (including stitching techniques)

When to stitch (Journal article–Doctors apparently usually go by experience on this)

More about when to stitch (Simple guide for moms)

Basic wound treatment

Incision vs. laceration: Most of the time (including in medical literature) they’re used synonymously, but eh.

Types of lacerations: Page has links to some particularly graphic images–beware!

How to stop bleeding: 1, 2, 3

Puncture wounds: Including a bit about what sort of wounds are most likely to become infected

More about puncture wounds

Wound assessment: A huge amount of information, including what the color of the flesh indicates, different kinds of things that ooze from a wound, and so much more.

Home treatment of gunshot wound, also basics More about gunshot wounds, including medical procedures

Tourniquet use: Controversy around it, latest research

Location pain chart: Originally intended for tattoo pain, but pretty accurate for cuts

General note: Deeper=more serious. Elevate wounded limb so that gravity draws blood towards heart. Scalp wounds also bleed a lot but tend to be superficial. If it’s dirty, risk infection. If it hits the digestive system and you don’t die immediately, infection’ll probably kill you. Don’t forget the possibility of tetanus! If a wound is positioned such that movement would cause the wound to gape open (i.e. horizontally across the knee) it’s harder to keep it closed and may take longer for it to heal.

Broken bones

Types of fractures

Setting a broken bone when no doctor is available

Healing time of common fractures

Broken wrists

Broken ankles/feet

Fractured vertebrae: Neck (1, 2), back

Types of casts

Splints

Fracture complications

Broken noses

Broken digits: Fingers and toes

General notes: If it’s a compound fracture (bone poking through) good luck fixing it on your own. If the bone is in multiple pieces, surgery is necessary to fix it–probably can’t reduce (“set”) it from the outside. Older people heal more slowly. It’s possible for bones to “heal” crooked and cause long-term problems and joint pain. Consider damage to nearby nerves, muscle, and blood vessels.

Concussions

General overview

Types of concussions 1, 2

Concussion complications

Mild Brain Injuries: The next step up from most severe type of concussion, Grade 3

Post-concussion syndrome

Second impact syndrome: When a second blow delivered before recovering from the initial concussion has catastrophic effects. Apparently rare.

Recovering from a concussion

Symptoms: Scroll about halfway down the page for the most severe symptoms

Whiplash

General notes: If you pass out, even for a few seconds, it’s serious. If you have multiple concussions over a lifetime, they will be progressively more serious. Symptoms can linger for a long time.

Character reaction:

Shock (general)

Physical shock: 1, 2

Fight-or-flight response: 1, 2

Long-term emotional trauma: 1 (Includes symptoms), 2

First aid for emotional trauma

Treatment (drugs)

WebMD painkiller guide

Treatment (herbs)

1, 2, 3, 4

Miscellany

Snake bites: No, you don’t suck the venom out or apply tourniquettes

Frostbite

Frostbite treatment

Severe frostbite treatment

When frostbite sets in: A handy chart for how long your characters have outside at various temperatures and wind speeds before they get frostbitten

First aid myths: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Includes the ones about buttering burns and putting snow on frostbite.

Poisons: Why inducing vomiting is a bad idea

Poisonous plants

Dislocations: Symptoms 1, 2; treatment. General notes: Repeated dislocations of same joint may lead to permanent tissue damage and may cause or be symptomatic of weakened ligaments. Docs recommend against trying to reduce (put back) dislocated joint on your own, though information about how to do it is easily found online.

Muscular strains

Joint sprain

Resuscitation after near-drowning: 1, 2

Current CPR practices: We don’t do mouth-to-mouth anymore.

The DSM IV, for all your mental illness needs.

Electrical shock

Human response to electrical shock: Includes handy-dandy voltage chart

Length of contact needed at different voltages to cause injury

Evaluation protocol for electric shock injury

Neurological complications

Electrical and lightning injury

Cardiac complications

Delayed effects and a good general summary

Acquired savant syndrome: Brain injuries (including a lightning strike) triggering development of amazing artistic and other abilities

Please don’t repost! You can find the original document (also created by me) here.

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More Posts from Nasenaya and Others

nasenaya

7 years ago

I decided to create a masterpost that would help you with what you are struggling with. Hopefully any of the links below will help you! Reminder; You’re going to be okay. What you are going through will pass, just remember to breathe.

————————————————————————————-

Distractions;

Here are some distractions to help keep your mind occupied so you aren’t too focused on your thoughts.

-Draw something

-This website translates the time into colours.

-Create your own galaxy.

-Play flowing.

-Make a 3D line travel where ever you like.

-Listen to music.

-Calm.

-Ocean mood, do nothing for two minutes.

Sleep issues;

- 8 hour sleep music.

-Rainy mood.

-Meditation.

-Coping with nightmares.

-How to cope with nightmares, 11 steps.

-Calm

-Foods that can affect your sleeping, both positive and negatively.

Uncomfortable with silence;

-Rainy mood.

-10 hours of rain and thunder.

-3 hours of rain and thunder.

-Human heartbeat.

-Rainforest.

-Sound of rain on a tin roof.

-Autumn wind.

-Rain on a tent

-Traffic in the rain.

-Soft traffic.

-Fan.

-Train.

-Simply noise.

-My noise.

-Rainy cafe.

Anxiety;

-How to stop worrying.

-Tips to manage anxiety and stress.

-The 10 best ever anxiety management techniques.

-Self-help strategies for anxiety.

-Helping a friend with anxiety.

-All about worrying.

-8 myths about anxiety.

Sad, angry and depressed/depression;

-“I’m always sad”

-Feeling sad.

-Going through trauma.

-“I’m always angry”.

-Anger management.

-All about anger.

-National helplines and websites.

-Self-help strategies for depression.

-Dealing with depression at work.

-Dealing with depression at school.

Isolation and loneliness;

-Pets and mental health.

-All about loneliness.

-“I feel so alone”

-10 more ideas to help with loneliness.

-How to deal with loneliness.

Self-harm;

-Alternatives to self-harm and distraction techniques.

-146 things to do besides self-harm.

-More alternatives to self-harm.

-Self-harm alternatives.

-How to take care of self-harm wounds/injuries.

-Getting rid of scars.

Addiction;

-How to help a friend with a drug addiction.

-What is addiction?

-All about alcohol and addiction.

-The facts about drug addiction.

Eating disorders;

-Helping a friend with an eating disorder.

-Eating disorder treatments.

-Support services for eating disorders.

-Self-help tips with eating disorders.

-Eating disorder recovery.

-Recovering from an eating disorder.

-100+ reasons to recover.

-Understanding and managing eating disorders.

Dealing with self-hatred;

-3 ways to ease self-loathing.

-How to turn self-hatred into self-compassion.

-Self-hatred resources.

-10 step plan to deal with self-hate.

Suicidal;

-International suicide hotlines (1) (2)

-Preventing suicide.

-Reasons to stay alive.

-Dealing with suicidal thoughts and feelings.

-Coping with suicidal ideation.

Schizophrenia;

-All about schizophrenia.

-Helping a person with schizophrenia.

-Understanding and dealing with schizophrenia.

-Delusions and hallucinations.

OCD;

-Managing your OCD at home.

-Overcoming OCD.

-How to cope with OCD.

-Strategies for dealing with the anxious moments.

Borderline personality disorder;

-Helping someone with BPD.

-All about personality disorders.

-Treatment for BPD.

Abuse;

-Healthy relationships VS abusive relationships.

-Emotional abuse

-Overcoming sexual abuse.

-Hotlines services.

-5 ways to escape an abusive relationship.

-Domestic violence support.

-Signs of an abusive relationship.

-What do to if you’re in an abusive relationship.

-Surviving abuse.

-What you can do if you’re sexual harassed.

-Sexual assault support.

-What to do if you’ve been sexually assaulted or abused.

Bullying;

-How to stand up against bullying.

-How to protect yourself when it comes to cyber bullying.

-How to help stop people bullying you.

Loss and grief;

-How to cope with a suicide of a loved one.

-Grieving for a stranger.

-Common reactions to death.

-Working through grief.

(Other loss and grief)

-Moving away from friends and family.

-Coping with a breakup.

Getting help;

-Seeking help early.

-All about psychological treatments.

-Types of help.

-All about age and confidentiality.

Things you need to remember;

- Don’t stress about being fixed because you’re not broken.

-Remember to remind yourself of your accomplishments. Tell yourself that you’re proud of yourself, even if you’re not.

- This is temporary. You won’t always feel like this.

-You are not alone.

-You are enough.

-You are important.

-You are worth it.

-You are strong.

-You are not a failure,

-Good people exist.

-Reaching out shows strength.

-Breathe.

-Don’t listen to the thoughts that are not helping you.

-Give yourself credit.

-Don’t be ashamed of your emotions, for the good or bad ones.

-Treat yourself the same way as you would treat a good friend.

-Focus on the things you can change.

-Let go of toxic people.

-You don’t need to hide, you’re allowed to feel the way you do.

-Try not to beat yourself up.

-Something is always happening, you don’t want to miss out on what’s going to happen next.

-You are not a bother.

-Your existence is more than your appearance.

-You are smart.

-You are loved.

-You are wanted.

-You are needed.

-Better days are coming.

-Just because your past is dark, doesn’t mean your future isn’t bright.

-You have more potential than you think.

- Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.

Please remember to look after yourself and know that you are more than worth it and you deserve to be happy. Keep smiling butterflies x

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helpful

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nasenaya

6 years ago

DADVOR ;3;

I keep thinking about Jesse doing something particularly reckless while out on an adventure and a very exasperated Ivor giving them an earful of a lecture while patching them up, and Jesse says something along the lines of, “Ivor, it’s not that bad; really, I’m fine. I’m not a kid.”

And Ivor just frustratedly snaps back, “Well, you’re my kid!”

And then there’s just, like…twelve seconds of heavy silence.

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nasenaya

6 years ago

Day 27: Sports//Stargazing

Keith has a rough day & Shiro makes the best hot chocolate

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nasenaya

6 years ago

@bootthesnoot I WUV U SM ;3;

Have you ever met someone on the internet that you liked so much that you sometimes sit there and think “Oh man there are people who are lucky enough to see this person IN THE FLESH ON A REGULAR BASIS and I wonder if they realize how LUCKY they are”

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nasenaya

2 years ago

“Please excuse the sorry state of my cabin.”

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nasenaya

6 years ago

art cheats

hello i am here today to not lose track of the art cheats i have discovered over the years. what i call art cheat is actually a cool filter/coloring style/way to shade/etc. that singlehandedly makes art like 20 times better

80’s anime style

glitch effect

glow effects

adding colors to grayscale paintings

foreshortening ( coil )

foreshortening ( perspective )

clipping group (lines)

clipping group (colors)

dramatic lighting ( GOOD )

shading metal

lighting faces

that is all for today, do stay tuned as i am always hunting for cool shit like this