the.com/deadleg
a perfectly aimed knee that turns a thigh into temporary stone and a friend into prey
means A sudden numbing pain and temporary loss of use in the thigh, caused by a sharp blow (often a knee) to the muscle — though it can also mean a length of pipe or a stretch of road that goes nowhere.
from A plain compound of "dead" (numb, lifeless, unfeeling) and "leg," naming the limb that briefly stops obeying after a knock. "Dead" has carried the sense of "deprived of feeling or function" for centuries — think of a "dead arm" or a foot gone "dead" from sitting wrong. The schoolyard sense of a deliberately delivered blow is the most familiar today, but the same logic gives the plumbing and roadbuilding senses: a deadleg is any branch that's gone inert, fluid stagnant or traffic stalled.
- mechanism
- impact crushes muscle against bone, briefly killing nerve signal
- medical name
- thigh contusion, ranked by bleeding depth
- playground weapon
- the corner of a knee aims it precisely
- can scar deep
- severe cases calcify into bone-like myositis ossificans
charlie horse — painful thigh muscle cramp, commonly called dead leg in sports like rugby and australian rules football
anterior thigh contusion — quadriceps bruise from direct impact, standard injury in contact sports including american football