I remember reading an account a few years ago from a man who served as a Cossack guard to Czar Nicolas II. He described part of his training to be a Cossack where he was given the choice of being cut with a sword or having one of his bones broken. The reason for this he said was to condition young Cossacks to learn that they could still fight after being injured. Given the longer healing time of a broken bone, I'm sure most of them would have chosen to be cut by a sword.
Even in our sparring we see the action stop when someone is hurt even slightly. In real combat I'm sure the action continued because to stop meant to loss or worse death.
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