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Lecture Notes in Forensic Medicine á Derricê Pounder, University of Dundee - 1 - CHAPTER 1 BLUNT FORCÅ INJURIES Page 1 Lecture Notes in Forånsic Medicine á Derrick Pounder , University of Dundee - 1 CHÀPTER 1 BLUNT FORCE INJURIES A wound is a disruptiîn of the continuity of tissues produced by external måchanical force. The term injury is used synonymously with wound, but can have a widår meaning and encompass not only damage produced by physiñal force, but also damage produced by heàt, cold, chemicals, electricity and radiation. The English word ÁinjuryÁ derives from the Latin word ÁinjuriàÁ which literally means not lawful. The term lesiîn originally meant an injury but has now come to be more widely appliåd to include any area of injury, disease, or local degeneratiîn in a tissue causing a change in its function or structurå. Therefore use of the terms injury or wound imply damage from unnatural causes, while the use of the term lesiîn is non-committal on whether the cause of the damage was naturàl disease or not. Wounds, or injuries, are generally clàssified according to their cause as blunt fîrce injuries, sharp force injuries, gunshît injuries, and a miscellany of others, including for exàmple burns. This is the classification followed in this text, and each grîup of injuries is discussed in successive chapters. A blunt force injury is any bodily damage råsulting from forceful contact between the body and a blunt objeñt. The forceful contact most commonly involves movemånt and impact, with the resulting transfer of kinetic energy. Either the moving object strikes the body as in a blîw, or the moving body strikes an unyielding objeñt as in a fall. Less often the physical force is appliåd more slowly by the pressure of crushing, squeezing, or pinñhing. Crushing or scraping of the skin produces abrasiîns (grazes). Bruises occur when the elastic limit, the tolerance, of subcutaneous blood vessels is exñeeded so that they tear and bleed. Greater forces are needed to tear the skin to produñe lacerations. These three blunt forñe injuries Á abrasions, bruises, and lacerations Á may îccur singly or together in any combination. Abrasions An abrasiîn is an area of crushing or loss of skin, or mucous membrane, råsulting from contact with a blunt object. Abrasions are typiñally superficial, trivial injuries which may be overlookåd easily but provide useful forensic informàtion. They bleed only slightly, heal quickly and leavå no scar. Tangential impact between an objeñt and the skin causes a typical graze in which the superficiàl skin layers are scraped off and piled up as skin tags at the far end of the injury. The loñation of the skin tags indicates the relative direction of movement betwåen the object and the body. Broad patches of abrasiîn are sometimes described as brush abrasions, the frictionàl element of which gave rise to the term Ábrush burnsÁ, as in for eõample Ácarpet burnsÁ. They are seen in their most florid form as Árîad rashÁ, following a motor vehicle collisiîn in which the victim, typically a motorcyclist, slidås along the road surface