Forensic pathologists and anthropologist are increasingly requested to analyse and interpret bone trauma from skeletonized remains in a medico-legal setting, but many professionals remain hesitant or unsure how to adequately address skeletal trauma. If you have experienced difficulties in interpreting broken bones from decomposed or skeletonized remains in your practice, or are interested in learning more about the analysis and interpretation of bone fractures, then we would like to invite you to a five-day short course in the analysis and interpretation of bone trauma in the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology, University of Coimbra (Portugal) from 02 to 06 September, 2019.
The ability to differentiate between bone injuries produced from slow-load forces and those produced by rapid-load forces is a fundamental component to bone trauma analysis in practice. It is also important to be able to evaluate taphonomic changes to bone, interpret of the timing of burned bone trauma, and record evidence of healing or healed injuries with suspected cases of abuse.
The focus of this workshop is to provide extensive hands-on opportunities for practitioners along with lecturers and focus group discussions around the application of current biomechanics methodology for the accurate interpretation of these injuries. The national and international institutional collaboration of this workshop is a unique opportunity to comprehensively, and with a hands-on approach, address a number of issues in practitioners’ prior experiences in the analysis and interpretation of traumatic injuries to bone in a medico-legal setting.