Biomechanics uses principles of physics and engineering to determine forces applied to the human body. In forensics, the most obvious application for biomechanics is to evaluate human injury potential from an incident such as a motor vehicle accident or a fall. Rochon Engineering’s biomechanical reconstructions comprehensively incorporate information provided by accident reports, witness statements, engineering accident reconstruction reports, and medical documents to evaluate the physical loads imposed on the claimant’s body during an incident. These loads are compared to the most recent scientific literature on human injury thresholds for the specifically injured part of the body to assess whether or not the physical events of the incident could have led to the claimed injuries. Additional factors, such as a person’s age and pre-existing medical conditions or injuries, which may alter a person’s injury potential, are also considered in our biomechanical analyses.
Equally important to a biomechanical analysis is developing an understanding for how a person’s body may have moved or interacted with the surrounding environment in an incident. Often times witnesses or the claimants themselves will provide their account of the incident’s events and how their body was impacted. Given a description of the events from an incident, our biomechanics analyses can also determine the likely sequence of a person’s bodily movements to evaluate the consistency and accuracy of claimant or witness statements.
Rochon Engineering’s biomechanical analyses are conducted with meticulous attention to detail with the final product being a coherent and comprehensive court-ready report. Other services such as consultation, and interpretation of an opposing biomechanics reports are also available.
