Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Might Be a Strange Question

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Posted by Leon_Lando (Member # 1708) on :

Hello.

Sorry if this is a weird question, but I don't know of any other place to ask.

I'm working on a character, and it's important that she can't walk, so I have a few questions about hamstringing:

1. Were the legs entirely dead weight, or useless only from the cut downward?

2. Could the person sit up straight?

3. Lastly, is there any modern way to fix it, or is a wheelchair nessecary?

Answers or a link or anything would be useful, as well as alternatives as to why she can't walk.

Posted by James Maxey (Member # 1335) on :

Is it important that she be hamstringed? (Hamstrung?) The most common reason a persons legs wouldn't work would be spinal injury.

As to whether she could sit up, I can't think of any reason why not. People who've had their legs completely amputated are capable of sitting.

By my understanding of hamstringing, her legs wouldn't be paralyzed. She wouldn't be able to stand or walk, but she'd still be able to move her feet and toes. Hamstringing is just cutting the tendons in the thighs. Unless it was a superdeep cut, I don't think it would sever the nerves to the lower part of the legs.

--James

Posted by Leon_Lando (Member # 1708) on :

No, being hamstrung/hamstringed isn't the most important thing, but I picture her having full upper-body movement and control. Would a spinal injury affect that? The most important thing is that she can't walk. I never thought of her legs as paralyzed, just...limp. Is that possible?

Edit: I meant, is it possible to have spinal injuries where your legs aren't paralyzed, just useless? Tired, sorry.

[This message has been edited by Leon_Lando (edited July 27, 2003).]

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

If her legs are "limp" in the sense of being unable to move by their own power, then that is paralysis. If her legs are "limp" in the sense that she cannot walk normally and must limp, then she might be hamstrung.

Spinal injury paralysis doesn't make limbs stiff or anything like that, it just means that they don't move on their own. There can be injuries that limit but do not entirely sever nervous connections, thus she might have an injury that meant she couldn't walk but could still move her legs some. There are also injuries that cause spurious movement, though I take it that wouldn't be what you're looking for either.

James is right about hamstringing. It doesn't even make it impossible to walk or even run (though you won't run very fast). It only affects the use of the specific muscles linked to the severed tendon. You can even still flex those muscles, it just doesn't bend your knee when you do so.

Also, modern medicine can fix a severed tendon fairly easily, though not completely or cheaply, particularly if the injury is old and has scarred over.

Posted by Leon_Lando (Member # 1708) on :

Thanks for clearing up the paralysis thing, Survivor, I didn't know that. What sort of things would cause that kind of spinal damage? An automobile accident?

What about a different direction- are there any birth defects that affect the legs?

Posted by Maccabeus (Member # 1369) on :

I believe that severe spina bifida can result in lower-limb paralysis. There are also a number of genetic ailments such as muscular dystrophy that will paralyze a person, but they usually affect the whole body.

The results of spinal cord damage vary with what connections have been broken. The most important factor is where along the length of the cord the injury occurred. This is why a broken neck is usually fatal; it's not the damage to the vertebrae per se but the serious risk of damaging the pathways that regulate breathing even if the cord was not initially harmed. A very low injury might paralyze only the legs, or (I believe) even just part of the legs, though in the latter case it would technically not be the spinal cord that was damaged (part of the vertebral column is occupied solely by nerves leaving the cord).

The spinal cord is also not a single unit. Although most natural injuries damage the whole cord, motor and sensory pathways occupy separate vertical "strands", so that one can be paralyzed but still have feeling, or vice versa, if for some reason both tracts are not damaged.

Need anything more specific? If I don't know, I can look it up, or try to. (I am working on my Biology Masters.)

[This message has been edited by Maccabeus (edited July 27, 2003).]

Posted by mags (Member # 1570) on :

Hamstringing is essentially cutting the Achilles tendon. It means that you have no control over the angle of the foot. Your thigh muscles would still allow you to move and position the tibia, and the femor is still unaffected. The person can still walk on their knees.

And yes it is possible to reattach the tendons, however, tendon’s don’t heal up very well, so it would definitely take a significant time. And if the tendon has atrophied then the tendon would be pulled up into the leg, and it would take time to get to it, and get it stretched out again.

Ok… if it is important that this happens after she has developed normally, and learned how to walk, then a spinal injury would do that.

If you are going for something that will temporarily cause this to happen, then you can have a problem with the pelvis, such as it being crushed. – which can happen from something like a car crash, or a tree falling on your character. Another option would be something happening to the hips/pelvis where they aren’t working properly, either they are rotated, and all the nerves, etc are affected. This could be interesting in a mystery actually, since the effects aren’t consistent, so although she might normally not be able to user her legs to walk, sometimes she could. (happens to me, but in reverse, and after years of therapy/chiropractors.) – but that isn’t really where you seem to be going.

If it isn’t important, then spinal bifida in which the lower part of the spinal cord never develops, then that would get the efforts you have posted that you want. But it currently isn’t correctable. So a wheel chair is the way for your character to move most of the time, as the legs are pretty much useless.

A friend of mine with spinal bifida has a rod in her back to help with the curvature of her spine, which helps her hips to sit level. – there is actually more than just the rod, but I didn’t feel you needed to hear everything. That might not be necessary to everyone with spina bifida, and the whole set up hasn’t been available until fairly recently.

Posted by Leon_Lando (Member # 1708) on :

Wow, thanks. It seems like spinal injury is the way to go on this. You guys have been a great help.

Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :

Something that might be useful to you - paralysis due to nerve damage isn't always total, and doesn't necessarily follow the often-quoted rule that you are paralysed for everything below a certain point of your body. For instance, I had a friend at school whose shoulder was badly damaged in a car crash; she lost the use of her arm, but still had a small amount of control over her fingers.

Nerve damage can also heal itself over a period of time in some cases, so you may have somebody who is partially paralysed for 5-10 years but regains use of the affected limbs after that time.