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For clarity, a simple diagram showing the x,y,z directions and also the the direction of the forces you are referencing. I invision a simple drawing of a head/neck/shoulders, a simple axis system imposed on it, and then the arrows showing the forces. For the engineering types, terms such as shear and axial make sense, but for the non-engineer, I imagine a picture with arrows (and maybe some very simple text) would be easier to visualize. For example, an axial force occurs when lifting someone by their head, a shear force occurs when the vertebrae of the neck want to slide across the top of each other.[/b]
Something like this should work (at higher res, of course):
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Then, given the mechanics of the basil (sp?) injuries, is there one or more of these forces which is considered more critical?
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Yes, which complicates things further. We are not doing anyone any favors if they infer that all loads are equally dangerous.