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.