Women, Collisions and the Short End of the Stick

Have you ever seen something where it seems like there's a mis-match between odds and outcome?

Someone notices that a lot of people who work at the watch factory are getting sick. Like way more people than at any other employer in town.

It turns out almost all of them have jobs applying luminous paint to watch dials and hands.

Ultimately it becomes clear that Radium is the culprit.

We've noticed the something similar in our practice.

A disproportionate number of our clients with persistent symptoms are women. Not just women, but short women.

They seem to get hurt worse than men and have longer recoveries.

And it turns out we aren't the only ones who have made this connection.

Cars are not made for women. Especially short women.

In the United States, women are 73 percent more likely to be severely injured in vehicle crashes than men, and 17 percent more likely to die. A lot of this had to do with height (and the height of drivers assumed when designing safety mechanisms). Women, statistically, are quite a bit shorter than men.

One of the biggest reasons for this safety differential is that head restraints are not being properly aligned with shorter drivers. The head and neck are less supported. That leads to a greater range of motion and potential for injury.

Another is that the seat’s design and positioning does not adequately protect the pelvis and lower extremities of shorter drivers.

And seatbelts and airbags are not as effective for shorter individuals. That leads to more severe injuries.

This answers a lot of questions about why one person got hurt in a collision and another person didn't.

It also debunks a lot of biomechanical testimony about forces and likelihood of injury when there's such a differential between the forces experienced by people for whom vehicles were designed (average height males) and people for whom they were not designed (particularly short women).

#women

#short

#female