How do you examine the areas on your body that you can't see?

I took a little 27-mile jaunt on the Appalachian Trail this weekend. It had everything: rain, fog, bear hounds, a sizeable blacksnake keeping the trail shelter mouse-free. A lot of it was ridge-walking, which means slabs of sandstone underfoot tilted every which way and covered in a green mossy slime (due to all the recent rain) that is as slick as ice.

So, I managed to take a tumble and hit my head on a tree as I went down. As I sat there for a few seconds, taking stock and deciding whether to backtrack to the last road or go on, I ran through the checklist:

Nausea? No.
Blurred or double-vision? No.
Discoloration under the eyes? Blood in the ears? Hard to tell, since I was alone and didn't have a mirror. I did, however, have a digital camera, so I took pictures of my face, ears and the impact spot on the back of my head. Everything was fine, and I eventually wandered on my way.

smart thinking on using the digital camera!!

The fact that you thought of that, shows signs that you were doing ok..

Good thinking! Do you hike with a staff?

TRO

( I have a little mirror in my kit for signaling, and eye debris removal.)

yeah, i was going to say your signal mirror. Maybe. You could also just shove a finger into your ear and see if it's bleeding.

As for other parts... I dunno. that's a real good question.

And if you feel something soft and squishy and you suddenly have the urge to sing Mary Had A Little Lamb, then what?