Medical Aspects of Energy Absorption

In Medical Aspects of Energy Absorption, a review of medical injury mechanisms are discussed in practical terms. The nationwide adoption of the Abbreviated Injury Scale, derived from the original meetings of the Ad Hoc Injury Severity Committee in the late sixties and early seventies, have led to the more sophisticated and better defined injury severity scale. The statistical review of many automotive accidents are now performed well away from the field investigators and thus have led the people to code and analyze the injuries without really knowing the case and the mechanism by which the injuries were sustained.

This paper concentrates mainly on the head, neck, thorax and abdomen. Although serious, permanent injuries and occasional fatal injuries can develop later due to trauma to either the upper or lower extremities, this paper deals with direct trauma and the more complex injuries of the upper torso and head of the victim.