Crippled Limbs

Crippled Limbs are caused by excessive damage to the left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, in Fallout 3: torso, or head. In Fallout 1 and Fallout 2, your eyes could become damaged as well.

Appearances
Crippled limbs have appeared in Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout Tactics, and the Van Buren Tech Demo.

Fallout 1 and Fallout 2
In Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 limbs becoming crippled were a great issue. Having arms crippled would lower your unarmed and melee weapons damage and accuracy with all weapons, and with both arms crippled, you will not be able to use weapons. While legs crippled lowered mobility, therefore raising the amount of action points required to move about during battle. Having either or both of your eyes damaged would substantially lowers your accuracy with every weapon. In order to heal crippled limbs you would need a decent Doctor skill and use a First Aid Box or Doctor's Bag. Or you could find a doctor that could heal crippled limbs. In Fallout 1 you could use the doctor in Vault 13. The Ripper is a very effective weapon to use when attempting to cripple limbs.

Fallout 3
In Fallout 3 your head and torso can be crippled as well as your arms and legs, though they tossed the Crippled Eye idea, there is a similar effect with a crippled head. When your head is crippled, you receive a concussion, constantly blurring your vision so it is difficult to see what you are shooting at. Having crippled arms has the same effect as in Fallout 1 and Fallout 2, lower damage with melee and lower accuracy, and crippled legs lower your overall speed. If you had any crippled limbs in Fallout 3, you can either use a stimpak, find a doctor, or even sleep for as much as an hour. Eating food or drinking water does not regenerate limbs. After completing the optional method of completing "Contract Radiation Sickness" in Chapter 1 of "The Wasteland Survival Guide" Quest, Moira will heal your 600 rads of radiation and you will mutate, giving you a new perk; "Rad Regeneration", which allows you to regenerate crippled limbs while experiencing advanced radiation poisoning.

If you get knocked down and get a crippled body part and load a save when still knocked down you will still have the effects of the crippled body part and can not be cured. To fix this, cripple the body part again and use a stimpack, or, restart the console a few times and that should fix it. (at least on PS3)