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  • @skylarynn

    Aha, a nice, simple question. 🙂

    The basic principles of treating bone breaks have changed little over the millennia. Doctors then as now knew to immobilize the limb with splints or a cast and apply traction to give the bone break adequate space to heal the break and generate new bone tissue, and knew of herbs in their era which could be applied or ingested to reduce inflammation and manage pain. A poultice of henbane and hemlock was commonly used as a treatment for arthritis, and would probably be of utility in managing pain and inflammation in a broken bone. Willow bark is famously known as the natural progenitor of aspirin, and would help reduce pain and fever, but has minimal effect on inflammation. Cloves may also be helpful here, and they were known to be an effective pain-reliever for toothaches in particular, in addition to tasting good.

    However, most of the healing falls upon the patient to simply wait until the bone fixes itself.

    So, you crushed his legs, didya? Been there, done that. @deep-run (I’m sorry Alois, you deserved better).

    It depends on the greatness of the weight. Something like an anvil or being run over by a cart (<200lbs) would be a bad injury, but the break would probably be in no more than 2-3 places. Surgery would be an option of last resort and only performed if the patient could afford that procedure and if the doctor could actually see something to operate on, i.e., bone sticking out of the leg. An injury like this will probably result in visible deformation and some loss of function even after healing, as they simply don’t have the same reconstructive technology that we do today. However, you’ll likely live; this is not a vital injury, and the risk of infection (the main killer in injuries in this era) is minimal.

    Now if it’s a VERY great weight, something like a city gate or a massive boulder… he might not have much bone left to fix. He also might not have much leg left. But I assume that you are talking about a bone BREAK, and not a bone PULVERIZATION.

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