How skin reduces impact force on bones

AI Thread Summary
Skin acts as a protective layer that absorbs and redistributes impact forces, similar to a trampoline, but its effectiveness is limited compared to underlying soft tissues like muscles and fat. While skin can extend the duration of an impact, reducing the average force applied, it is primarily the soft tissue that provides significant protection to bones. Discussions highlight that injuries from minor impacts, such as banging a shin or head, suggest that soft tissues play a more critical role than skin alone. The conversation also touches on hypothetical scenarios involving falls and the potential for layered impacts to mitigate damage. Overall, the consensus leans towards the importance of soft tissue in protecting bones from impact forces.
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I am very interest in knowing about how skin reduced force that can damage bone.

I guess it act like a protective layer by flexing and stretching such as a trampoline. Also skin redistribute the force and spread out evenly and the soft tissue play role here too. Please help if someone have any information related to this topic or interest to comments. I'll get in more detail about energy etc when I am back to my physics book _ _! .

Thank for any concerns

PS: I'll review a really cool idea that I have when this solve :)
 
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I don't think skin alone makes much difference at all (ever bang your shin into a low table or bang your head?) it's the skin spreading the force out through the soft tissue behind the skin.
 
This sounds interesting!
I personally think skin wouldn't do that much, other than changing the impact time thereby decreasing the average amount of force applied over time. I think it is more than the skin that helps with impact.
As phinds said the head banging and the shin banging show that it seems to be more of the tissue rather than just the skin.
 
I think muscles and fat protect our bones better.
 
derek10 said:
I think muscles and fat protect our bones better.
Yeah, that's why you see helmets and shin protectors, but rarely butt protectors.
 
I see haha, I was trying to calculate these factors. Cause I wonder if a person fall down from a building, can a giant hand safe he/she from the gravity crush. Also, if the person was stopped with multiple layers decreasing altitude when fall down. Like if you watch movie, the hero jump down from tall building and grab trees' branches as he/she fall down or when someone parachutes broke they fall down on tree branches that hold them and help them survive. I just try to prove that it is possible by physics principles
 
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