# I took an arrow to the scapula...



## SherwoodViking (Mar 31, 2016)

I'm writing a story that takes place during the 12th Century. My main character's love interest was about to be shot in the heart with an arrow by a guard but as the guard was drawing, she turns to face her love interest and took the arrow to her right scapula. The guard that was shooting was maybe ten feet away. 
After she was shot, she helped her love interest escape and after distracting the guards, broke the shaft off and jumped out the window to the water below. 

So here are my questions:

1) The arrow didn't go deep enough to make her bleed out but about how much blood would she lose and how would it effect her? Would it be enough to pass out?
2) How would the arrowhead be extracted during this time period?
3) How long would it take for her to heal and would she still be able to wield a sword once healed?
4) The water is pretty high up from the window. Would there be any other wounds inflicted by the fall?

I apologize about having so many questions but so far I have found nothing to fit what I need. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## Laurence (Mar 31, 2016)

I don't have time to answer your questions but I'll ask before someone else does:

What type and poundage of bow is the guard using? What type of arrow?

How far is the fall? Did she jump through glass? Is the water clean?


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## SherwoodViking (Mar 31, 2016)

Bow: English Longbow,about 180 draw weight.
Arrow: acute barbed broadhead 

Fall: No glass. Water- fairly clean. About 100 ft.


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## psychotick (Mar 31, 2016)

Hi,

Surely a longbow at that sort of range would penetrate deeply. I think Mythbusters did a test on them. So my thought would be that if you want her to survive you have to give some reason that the force of the arrow hitting her was diminished. And I suspect that even if it hit bone, it would have simply broken it.

And a hundred foot fall into water is a long way down. You can survive, but you can also be killed. It depends on how you hit the water. And I doubt a woman falling with an arrow in her, is going to be up to guiding her descent too well.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Jerseydevil (Mar 31, 2016)

Your character is dead or crippled. An arrow from a longbow can hit with the same force as a rifle bullet. I've seen water buffalo taken down with a 70 lb bow at about twenty yards, which then flew out of the animal because of the close distance. A 180 lb bow (ludicrously powerful, most longbows were about 100-120 lbs) at ten feet would shatter any bone it slammed into and fly straight out of her into anything behind. If by some divine intervention she managed to not die instantly, she would have a punctured lung and many severed blood vessels, something that cannot be treated before the twentieth century. If the arrow is stuck in her (not sure how, but just going with it) breaking it off will cause the broad head to shift, severing even more blood vessels and causing her to bleed out faster. After being hit, she would be on the ground dying in extreme agony, maybe coughing up blood. Also, there is the matter of secondary fragmentation, as the broken bones are also tearing up organs and blood vessels, speeding up her demise.
A fall into water at that height is like hitting concrete, and most who do so are killed by the impact. There is a possibility of surviving, but that is so small, it is practically a death sentence. They only way you're character is surviving all of this is either through divine intervention or being the next model Terminator.


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## glutton (Mar 31, 2016)

Jerseydevil said:


> They only way you're character is surviving all of this is either through divine intervention *or being the next model Terminator.*



If the story isn't meant to have a very realistic tone overall though this could actually make the character seem awesome, I do similar all the time lol.


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## Tom (Mar 31, 2016)

Ouch. An arrow to the scapula, especially one shot from a 12th century longbow, means a shattered scapula and, if the arrow hits hard enough, possibly shattered ribs _and_ a punctured lung. You've probably heard that shooting a deer in the shoulder blade won't kill it, but that's with deer. Humans have much smaller, thinner shoulder blades than deer, and the impact could very well kill you.


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## glutton (Mar 31, 2016)

Also, maybe she could be wearing armor to slow down the arrow? Always use protection XD


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## Tom (Mar 31, 2016)

glutton, you are terrible.


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## thedarknessrising (Mar 31, 2016)

Ok, so I had to google scapula, because I didn't know what it was. Now that I know, I gotta say that your character should pretty much be dead or near death. If the arrow didn't kill her, that 100 ft fall should have.


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## Malik (Mar 31, 2016)

The arrow would go right through and out the other side, shattering the scapula like a commemorative dinner plate and impacting on a far wall somewhere behind. Your character would be crippled for life. Massive wound trauma with multiple channels and massive blood loss from the fragment channels venting through the exit wound -- which will likely be big enough to drop a golf ball into, as the arrow would likely punch a chunk of bone out through the meat and skin -- and a huge and insanely complicated surgical job to put it back together. The shoulder is as complex a joint as the knee; the trope about a shoulder wound "just winging" someone is Hollywood BS. Take a round in the shoulder and you're crippled; you're likely dead without immediate surgery. 

If one of the bone fragments lodged in the brachial plexus or severed an artery, your character would have to have the arm amputated. Also, as stated above, if one of those fragments went into the lung or heart, cancel Christmas.

I hunt with a 55-lb. recurve and it goes through a deer's shoulder no problem with a steel broadhead on a wooden shaft. Through, and out the other side from out to 20 yards.

Also, as stated above, 180-lb. bows are ludicrously heavy, and likely belong relegated to history's dustbin alongside the mythical 50-lb. sword. They may have existed but I've pulled a 75-lb. longbow and I find it very difficult to believe that anyone held a 150-lb. bow at full draw. 

There's an entire stickied thread about archery. Lots of info in there. Lots and lots. I'm fairly sure we covered all this.

A 100-foot fall into water is survivable, but probably not with a debilitating arrow wound. The impact on the water would jostle the injury around more and those fragments are basically little stone knives all through the upper torso. There'd be no way to swim, and the victim would be in shock so drowning is a very real possibility. Plus there's a risk of sepsis unless it was salt water.

You could have the arrow graze the meat of the deltoid or go through the trapezius above the collarbone (if your character is muscular enough to have protruding traps; some women are). This would be a flesh wound that anyone could easily sew up and they would likely survive the fall.


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## skip.knox (Apr 1, 2016)

Here's what I don't get. Why a longbow? Why such close range? Why such a long fall? Can't all that be brought back into the realm of believability? Like the others, if it's just presented to me, I'm going to be looking for the magical explanation why the person didn't just fall over dead and it's a corpse that plummets into the water.


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## glutton (Apr 1, 2016)

skip.knox said:


> Here's what I don't get. Why a longbow? Why such close range? Why such a long fall? Can't all that be brought back into the realm of believability? Like the others, if it's just presented to me, I'm going to be looking for the magical explanation why the person didn't just fall over dead and it's a corpse that plummets into the water.



Cause she's an utter badass XD

I think realism's a bit overrated in fantasy, sure it might not be likely or even possible in real life, but if it would convey the image you want for your character, go for it. Shrug off that impalement and defeat 50 trained warriors after XD.


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## Russ (Apr 1, 2016)

Great question and great group of answers.  Lots of stuff to think about in your questions.  Let's see what I have to add, starting with the OP's direct questions first and then on to some of the peripheral stuff.  I know injuries, their mechanisms and how you recover fairly well so  I think I can add some value for you.

Your character could definately survive a long bow arrow to the scapula area (I will discuss the bow part later on).  There are really three aspects to the probably injury (if you want to keep the analysis simple).    The first is the bleeding etc from the arrow going through the soft tissues etc around the scapula.  The scapula is covered with think muscles so there would be a great deal of bleeding.  This is a big problem but not insurmountable.  Without trying to write a text about 12th century medicine, blood loss has been a common feature of battlefield wounds forever and there are effective primitive techniques for dealing with it.  Assuming that the arrow does not hit a big vessel the bleeding need not be fatal.  Truth to told with bleeding there is a lot of luck involved based on the exact location the arrow goes.  I  have no problem believing the injury survivable depending on the angle of entry etc.  If the arrow goes right through, that is survivable as well.

If the arrow hits the scapula, the scapula will likely fracture.  There are many types of scapular fractures, but luckily for your character, most of them recover quite well.  Here are some points from an beginners orthopedic text I keep in my office:

"A patient with a fracture of a scapula will complain of sever pain and of difficulty in moving the shoulder girdle.  There will usually be extensive bruising.  The injury may be complicated by associated fractures of the rib cage."

"With rare exceptions fractures involving the glenoid...fractures of the scapula do not require any specific treatment.  The patient does require pain relieving medication and an exercise program starting as soon as the degree of pain permits.  In younger patients a full recovery in three to six months can be anticipated.  However in older patients, stiffness of the shoulder may persist."

"The majority of fractures of the scapula heal without complications.  The main ...is a significant stiffness of the shoulder...which can interfere with the abilty to work in an overhead position.  In addition, the scapula can rub on the rib cage, producing pain and noise (crepitus)...if the fracture of the genloid involves the joint surface, there can be significant complications."

The third issue to be concerned with is of course infection and perhaps shock, but I am sure you can find some easy enough sources to deal with them.

So, depending on the angle the arrow enters at and if the character has a bit of luck the arrow shot you describe could be survived.   IT would cause massive pain, loss of use of that limb and significant bleeding immediately but if treated well in the long term a good recovery could well occur.

I have been studying injuries and their outcomes for decades, and  you cannot underestimate the role of luck in surviving such an injury.  With a bit of luck your character can survive this injury.  With a bit of bad luck, she could bleed out, get infected, permanently lose use of the arm etc.  As the writer you can offer a wide variety of outcomes from this injury without losing touch with reality.  Based on what we know about injuries to that area of the body from modern auto and industrial accidents I believe many of the "doom and gloom" scenarios that appear above are unnecessarily pessimistic.  

The 100 foot jump is definately survivable, often without injury and there is actually a lot of data on this.  At 100 ft your character is going to hit the water at about 54 mph.  The US Navy has done of lot of research in this area.  The fall of 100 ft to water is the approximate distance of the jump from a carrier deck into water and it is practiced regularly by navy rescue divers and crew men abandoning a carrier who are conscious are expected to be able to swim after the jump because they likely will not be injured.  At 150 ft feet the US Navy expects anyone able to execute good entry form and in good health to be able to enter the water and be capable of swimming afterwards.  Their data suggests things start to get really hairy for the person jumping after 150 ft.  So I think your 100 foot jump is survivable without stretching the reader's credulity.

The part I found odd about your scenario is the use of the big bow by a "guard".  A big bow like that is not really a weapon that is good for your normal guard.  Sure it might be great for a guard on top of a big wall watching for enemies down below, but not good for a guard who encounters enemies at a close range.  The arrows would be large and thick and the bow not very maneuverable.  There certainly were 180 lb draw bows historically but they appear to have been field or seige ranged weapons, not something a guard would walk around with.

Have fun with it.


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## Caged Maiden (Apr 1, 2016)

Okay, just one thing about bows...where does this attack happen? Bows were used in these applications: hunting, war, close-range with crossbows. So if you have a guard patrolling a wall, if it's a city guardsman, he'll have a crossbow. If it's a wartime story and you're set on the longbow, fine, but why is a guard toting a war weapon around with him? Long bows were heavy, but pulled to the chest not held like a hunter in the forest, taking aim at a single target. While they were accurate, a 100# bow just works so darn well on a castle wall, and raining arrows on enemies is what made English archers so devastating. Anyhow, back to what's happening. so if you have a guard with a crossbow, this feels a bit more realistic to me, because many crossbows were given to inexperienced men who weren't archers. They were clunky and sometimes didn't work, but they quickly turned any dude into a pretty competent archer at close range. Also, crossbows could be relatively light pull weight (like a longbow for hunting where you're aiming, and unlike a longbow that you use on a castle wall overlooking a field battle). Anyways, hope that helps. 

Just as a side note, there was a woman walking in a dog park nearby and she was shot in the back by a nearby target archer who lost an arrow over the fence. The woman thought she was hit in the back by a tennis ball and kept walking her dog, until someone stopped her and told her she had an arrow sticking out of her back. Weird. But true.


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## Zelda of Hyrule (Apr 1, 2016)

You know, one day something like what you describe happened here in Hyrule.

There were some wolves trying to break into my father's castle, so Link was called to action even though he was suffering a hell of a hangover thanks to my birthday party the day before. The wolves were too many and my friend was in trouble, so guess what?

I grabbed my bow and arrows!

It took me a little time to travel all the way to my father's place, where I found Link surrounded by the wolves in the gardens. He was crying for help because not even the Master Sword works well when you have a hangover, and the castle guards were as useless as ever. I prepared an arrow, aimed and it looked something like this:








Then, the next thing I know is that Link has collapsed to the ground with my arrow piercing his scapula. Fortunately the Magical blasts that I shot after that were enough to scare the wolves away, but I can tell you something: An arrow to the scapula is a really bad thing! It shatters the bones like glass and tears the muscle to shreds, so never try it either on yourself or on somebody else.

Definitely, it's not very survivable unless you have some magical fairies or some Red Potion to help you.

Link is still angry with me because of that.


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