I wasn't sure where this should go, so I put it here. Please move it if it needs to go somewhere else.

One of my characters had something happen to his arm. When he reaches for something, his arm hesitates slightly before taking it.

Does any one have an idea of what kind of injury might cause that, or would it not work? The character is "humanoid," so to speak.

Sounds like a muscle injury, maybe torn? Or pulled?

Hmm, that might work. Would that be permanent?

Okay, an injury that would have the symptoms you are referring to would be a nerve issue. Reflexive muscular contractions can be triggered by a fall or fracture. The injury can often times pinch a nerve or put a vertebrae out of place causing your muscles to contract, compressing nerves that go down your arm and causing symptoms and functional changes in your movements.

I would say the best way for this injury to occur is for your character to have a pretty traumatic fall of impact. Lots of people have these kinds of issues after a car accident. So if you could construct some way for your character to experience a similar impact to a car accident that would work too.

A car accident was an idea I was knocking around, so that would work. Thanks for your input, Elanhil and Airianna!

All right, I have another question. Would that type of injury be repairable? I was wondering in case I wanted to have it "go away." (My character would like that. )

Yeah, if the vertebrae got put back in place or the pinched nerve was taken care of.

That is what I thought. Thanks!

No problem.