I've run a mile or so on a broken foot, and danced on one too. I'm not especially resistant to pain, or brave or anything - the opposite if anything. But you get a period of grace with breaks where there isn't all that much pain. It hurts and you know something's wrong but the real pain comes later. In a life-or-death fight, with the gigantic adrenal dump that accompanies it, I doubt you'd feel a broken finger or two, but the loss of function could get you killed. If I was fighting someone and I felt that lethal force required, using that knife would be the only thing on my mind. (not that it's very likely, of course.)
You have a point about the adrenal dump. However, I think it depends on the type of break. If pieces of bone are actually separate from each other and grinding against each other, the pain will be different from if it is just fractured. Also, the pieces might just not mechanically work anymore if they are not connected.
Hi Duckula, I agree: some breaks will result in a hand that won't do anything, mechanically, even disregarding the pain. But some will result in a hand that can't grip any more, but can still provide some resistance - you can push, even if it hurts. With a kerambit you could still cut even if your ability to grip is destroyed, by say several broken metacarpals or fingers. I certainly didn't mean that a broken hand wouldn't affect you if you had a kerambit, and of course Shootodog is right: if a really good eskrima player hits your hand hard, it's probably going to be ruined. Hitting someone with a broken hand, armed or not, is obviously an act of desperation; but then I feel that after a knife fight has begun, the situation is desperate anyhow. I feel like I've taken up a lot of thread with a really peripheral point.
