Biomechanical epidemiology: a new approach to injury control research

Injury control studies, from inception and design to dissemination of results, tend to remain within individual discipline. This is largely because each of the disciplines has a unique language and approach to research. Collaborative research is often performed serially with one discipline presenting the results of that discipline's studies to another discipline. Epidemiologists and clinicians tell engineers to design a safety technology to prevent a specific injury. Engineers tell lawyers what is feasible to include in standards. As a result, epidemiological studies lack mechanical data needed by the engineers and engineering studies lack generalizability. The procedure for incorporating the best of multiple disciplines throughout the performance of injury control studies has not existed until recently and is presented conceptually in this manuscript. This new approach, Biomechanical Epidemiology, is an exciting enhancement to current injury control research.