Abstract
The improvised explosive device (IED) has been the signature weapon of the recent insurgencies in the Middle East. This type of weapon, capable of causing multiple severely injured casualties in a single incident, has been the most prevalent single threat to Coalition Troops. Improvements in personal protection and medical care have resulted in increasing numbers of casualties surviving with complex skeletal injuries, often leading to long-term disability.
In the Centre of Blast Injury Studies (CBIS) we are trying to decouple the effects of blast to the human body at multiple scales in order to propose solutions for the prevention from, and intervention and rehabilitation after, blast injury.
This lecture will primarily focus on our efforts to understand blast injury to the lower extremity.