Hand Injuries?

[Andy Spalding]

Having recently received Another serious hand injury (not from practice) i got to wondering what was the frequency of a swordsman losing a digit or three.

Were hand injuries as serious a matter in the source material times as they are now?

It seems to me that people who would fight to first blood in a sporting dual would probably be of the mind set that a finger wound would probably be a superficial injury and just bandage it up and get back in there.

[Richard Strey]

I daresay that there's a difference between being injured in the hands or loosing a finger, which is more permanent. If you look at the Belgian longsword rules Matt Galas posted on the SFI, you'll see that they valued their hands a great deal. And that is with a competetive system that counts steel-on-meat hits.

[Jaron Bernstein]

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[Jaron Bernstein]

I daresay that there's a difference between being injured in the hands or loosing a finger, which is more permanent. If you look at the Belgian longsword rules Matt Galas posted on the SFI, you'll see that they valued their hands a great deal. And that is with a competetive system that counts steel-on-meat hits.

Hmmm....Meyer in a number of places says specifically to target the hands or arms from the elbows down. I can give some quotes if needed. And this in what is supposed to be a "sport" system according to some Meyerteers.

[Richard Strey]

Correct. And that is, according to Matt Galas (see the same thread) one of the differences when it comes to the "German System" of recreational fighting. *g*
But the question was how much people back then cared about hand injuries and the sources seem to show that at least a number of Belgian guilds did do so sufficiently to adjust their rules.

[Jaron Bernstein]

Correct. And that is, according to Matt Galas (see the same thread) one of the differences when it comes to the "German System" of recreational fighting. *g*
But the question was how much people back then cared about hand injuries and the sources seem to show that at least a number of Belgian guilds did do so sufficiently to adjust their rules.

That does seem to be the case. I wonder what kind of medical treatments they had? I imagine that sutures were around. What about setting broken bones?

[Shane Smith]

Correct. And that is, according to Matt Galas (see the same thread) one of the differences when it comes to the "German System" of recreational fighting. *g*
But the question was how much people back then cared about hand injuries and the sources seem to show that at least a number of Belgian guilds did do so sufficiently to adjust their rules.

That does seem to be the case. I wonder what kind of medical treatments they had? I imagine that sutures were around. What about setting broken bones?

Interestingly, I 've had my right hand broken 3 or 4 times if you combine my Asian and RMA training over the course of a decade and in every case, the bones although cracked, always stayed in the proper relative position. In all four instances, it never required setting, just a gutter splint and rest. I wonder if a firm hand on the grip prevents compound fractures in some way?

[david welch]

We noticed this the last time we went to The Frazier International History Museum by accident and spent hours searching for and looking at it: almost every painting shows a degree of hand injury. It almost looked like it was a matter of pride to have it hinted at in the portraits.

In the blowups of Albrecht Dürer's "The Triumphal Procession of Maximilian", almost everyone to the man shows hand injuries, some serious... mangled hands, fingers pointing in "wrong" directions, missing fingers, etc.

[Will Adamson]

In the blowups of Albrecht Dürer's "The Triumphal Procession of Maximilian", almost everyone to the man shows hand injuries, some serious... mangled hands, fingers pointing in "wrong" directions, missing fingers, etc.

That sounds just like modern art!

[Scott A. Richardson]

This is why mathematics suffered so much during this time period...no one could count to ten on their hands!

[Shane Smith]

This is why mathematics suffered so much during this time period...no one could count to ten on their hands!

Perhaps, yet I'd bet the concept of fractions and percentages took great leaps forward!