Oh, it produces wonderfully effective trauma. That's just not it's primary role.

It's like my walking stick- yeah, I can give you joints you weren't born with it or send you off to a nap, but it's never been used for that. On the other hand, it works great for making a biped into a stable triped, poking places before I put my feet there, moving things I really don't want to touch with my hand, and getting water from the river into my nalgene without getting my feet wet. :P

All in all, the kukri is a knife. A nice knife, a big knife, but a knife, the most important tool you can have. *looking at fingers* At some point, we lost our claws. That wasn't a very smart choice....