Bauer Forensics, LLC, Seattle, Washington,, USA
Dr Jeremy J. Bauer, PhD consults in the areas of injury biomechanics, human performance, products liability, orthopaedics, shooting reconstruction, visibility analysis and instrumentation. He earned his PhD in Biomechanics from Oregon State University, with a minor in Mechanical Engineering and is a Fully Accredited Traffic Accident Reconstructionist (ACTAR # 2763).
Case Report
Impact Forces and Injury Potential from Landing on Large Inflatable
Airbags
Author(s): Erik D Power*, Jeremy J Bauer and Wilson C Hayes
This paper presents the impact forces associated with landing on a large inflatable airbag. A set of experiments was performed for a litigated case in which a man suffered injuries upon landing on a large airbag being used as an attraction/ride at a music festival. The man jumped off a 27-foot high platform, landed headfirst on the airbag and sustained a fracture to his cervical spine. To determine the impact forces involved, experiments were conducted by releasing instrumented kettlebells onto an exemplar airbag. Results demonstrated that the man’s cervical spine was subjected to 1,100 lbs of compression, which exceeded published neck injury tolerance limits. In addition to neck injuries, landing on the airbag with an outstretched arm or leg has a high potential to cause injuries to the upper or lower extremities, respectively. These results are useful and offer a strong cautio.. View more»