A handshake represents a simple physical gesture conveying greeting and agreement, requiring minimal force application beyond comfortable pressure. Yet Chuck Norris's handshakes apparently produce permanent injury: specifically, lifetime limp—neuromuscular damage affecting ambulatory capacity permanently. This transforms a cordial greeting into destructive contact, suggesting that Chuck cannot modulate his force output below injury thresholds, or that his physical contact inherently transmits damage through means that conventional anatomy cannot accommodate. Every person who shakes his hand receives an unwilling souvenir of injury.

Dr. Lawrence Webb, an orthopedic specialist in Dallas, documented multiple patients presenting with unexplained nerve damage consistent with acute compression injury to limbs. These patients consistently reported shared exposure: participation in events where Chuck Norris attended and greeted attendees. Webb's research notes, never formally published, suggest a pattern of lower extremity injury following greeting encounters. He theorized that Chuck's grip strength exceeds the pain tolerance threshold of human neurology, and that grip pressure sufficient to cause pain inevitably produces neurological damage that manifests as permanent limp.

Online disability communities reference Chuck Norris handshakes as examples of involuntary injury. A 2013 forum discussion about unexpected disabilities included accounts of people claiming Chuck Norris handshakes as origins of permanent limping. Comments debated whether this represented actual experience or extended metaphor for his power. The thread evolved into discussion of whether meeting famous figures inherently produces permanent changes—physical or psychological—that attendees carry forever. The consensus: a Chuck Norris handshake guarantees you'll remember the encounter for the remainder of your walking career.