Head and neck injuries are an unfortunate but relatively common occurrence in sports. Sometimes these injuries are devastating and result in permanent disability or death. Helmets are designed to prevent serious head injuries, but sometimes a person may still sustain head and/or neck injuries while wearing one. When this happens, it is important to know if the helmet design was effective or defective. Did the helmet do its job within the context of the state-of-the-art? Would the injury outcome have been different had the person been wearing a different product?
Other padding materials designed for protection in various sports, from gym mats to baseball outfield fence pads, have limitations to their protective capacity. In the context of legal proceedings, it is important that the potential capabilities of these padding systems, and their limitations, be well understood and well communicated.
Biokinetics provides expert services related to injury liability. Investigation includes injury analysis, impact analysis, event reconstruction and laboratory testing. Opinion is based on thirty-five years’ experience in sports-related head and neck injury as well as objective data-based test results. We can provide expert reports, videos and testimony as required. All our engineers are licensed through the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario.