Character creation help needed - disability

[Beorning]

Right now, I'm creating a character for a 1920s Call of Cthulhu game. Due to the way my dice rolled, my character has a pretty low dexterity - and only that. He's of average strength and general health, but his dexterity sucks.

I'm considering giving my character some sort of minor disability to explain this. Something like a limp leg... The problem is, I don't know enough about medicine (especially 1920s medicine) to come up with something specific. At first, I thought that giving him a club foot would work - but then, I learned that there have been successful sportsmen with this affliction...

Can anyone help?

[MolotovXsugaR]

I'm not sure if you're looking for a disease? Multiple Sclerosis and mild forms of Parkinson's can hinder dexterity- as well as Rheumatoid Arthritis. Varying stages of any of these diseases could affect dexterity without completely damaging your character. Otherwise, any form of accident could make him somewhat lame in certain limbs. Something heavy falling on him, getting thrown by a horse, etc. Nerve damage is always a good ailment to fall back on in my experience- you can pretty much come up with any backstory you'd like.

[Beorning]

Hm. How do nerve damage work? Can you just fall from a horse and get a lame leg in the result?

[MolotovXsugaR]

Generally some form of trauma causes permanent nerve damage. I.e. a car accident where several bones were broken, or following the example with the horse, he could've been thrown, the horse spooked and crashed on him damaging his leg. Nerve damage is a fairly wide reaching term with several causes, that's why I view it as a relatively safe ailment.

[Beguile's Mistress]

You could take a look at polio, a disease your character could have contracted as a young adult when his limbs were fully formed.  The nerve damage caused by the virus could leave him with partial paralysis of an arm or leg.

[HairyHeretic]

Depending on his age, and the exact date the game is played, how about he is a WW1 veteran, and this is a war wound?

[Beorning]

Actually, I would prefer to avoid the war wound route. I feel it's a bit... cliche.

BeMi, thank you for pointing out polio to me. It's an idea...

[LilyRoseBlack23]

what about being blind in one eye? That would throw off depth perception.

[Madriv]

Encephalitis (lethargica) was epidemic in the late teens/early 20's and could result in permanent nerve damage. There's a theory that surviving the 1918-19 flu pandemic made people more susceptible to encephalitis but that hasn't been proven.