Bodily harm is defined as the result of an aggression, exogenous or endogenous, in any body area and its origin can be due to a violent or natural event. The former group corresponds with accidents, and the latter refers to pathological processes that can lead to multiple diseases The manifestations of bodily harm are different but one of the most important are the musculoskeletal disorders, which are the most frequent complaints reported in health surveys in Europe. These disorders present a huge variety of names, reflecting the diversity of opinions and lack of consensus regarding their origin and treatments. Musculoskeletal injuries are very common in industrialized countries and have very important consequences for the individual and society. In fact, 50% of the European population reports musculoskeletal pain in one or more body points throughout the past year Work conditions contribute in a negative way in the intensity and evolution of these disorders. In some EU countries, more than 40% of social and sanitary awards for lost working days are due to these injuries. Another external agent that has a relevant role in the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders is the traffic accidents. The whiplash is the most common injury in collisions. According to some Spanish statistics, the whiplash is present in over 80% of traffic accidents. Many of these injuries present an unspecific origin or it is not possible to find an organic alteration that justifies them. Very often conventional diagnostic techniques do not show apparent injuries at organic level. This situation forces clinicians to work in uncertain situations. The absence of objective tools to assist clinicians in the determination of the real bodily harm of patients, produces, in some cases, incorrect evaluations and inappropriate treatments, with a negative impact on the public health systems and patients. Currently, biomechanics is growing because offers a new approach to obtain quantitative, objective and homogeneous data to improve personal injury assessment procedures. It is based on knowledge of mechanics, engineering, anatomy and physiology to study the behavior of human body, analyzing body segments movements, joints restrictions and muscular strength. These methodologies allow professionals to understand the relationship between clinical outputs and physics so they can corroborate their clinical hypothesis. There are many evidences in scientific literature about the applicability of biomechanics in the assessment of musculoskeletal injuries. In Google Scholar there are more than 29.000 entries when the search criteria is biomechanical assessment of pathological gait and more than 56.000 if they are biomechanics and low back pain. In fact, there are European countries, as Spain, which normally uses biomechanics in personal injury assessment. In fact, medical reports include biomechanical data, being recognized by regulatory institutions as a complementary medical test. Nevertheless, despite the fact that biomechanics proved its utility, it is not growing at the same velocity in every Europe countries. This fact happens because biomechanics must be applied taking into account legal framework and regulatory system because it has legal consequences. Hence, the main objective of the AREYOUFINE? project is to offer innovative e-learning courses focused on biomechanical analysis to improve personal injury assessment taking into account the different laws and boundary conditions in Europe. Therefore, taking into account professionals requirements, we will propose new harmonization contents and validate them to EU countries’ realities. All the main results obtained will be offered with none restriction. There will be a project website available (at least three years after the project ends) to disseminate them. At the end of the project we will develop online courses in English, Spanish, Italian and Polish that will be oriented to medical doctors working in insurance companies, hospitals, regulatory entities and legal experts focused on personal injury. AREYOUFINE? project consortium ensures the achievement of the objectives thanks to their complementary skills: On one hand, IBV will offer its expertise in biomechanics, USC in legal medicine and pedagogical methodologies, CIOP in ocupational health and SSSUP in law applied in this field at European level . On the other hand, CEREDOC will put the consortium in contact with European professionals of personal injury assessment, and IALM with international legal medicine experts. Finally, IBV will be in charge of the definition and hosting of the e-learning platform.
The "AREYOUFINE?" Project offers an innovative course on biomechanical analysis techniques aimed at bodily harm assessment, taking into account the different laws and conditions established in various European countries. Bodily injury is defined as the result of aggression, exogenous or endogenous, in any area of the body. There are different manifestations of bodily harm, but one of the most important are musculoskeletal disorders, which represent the most frequent complaints reported in health surveys in Europe. These disorders present a great variety of names, which reflect the diversity of opinions and the lack of consensus regarding their origin and treatments. Musculoskeletal injuries are very common in industrialized countries and have very important consequences for the individual and society. In fact, 50% of the European population has reported musculoskeletal pain in one or more points of the body during the last year. Many of these lesions have a non-specific origin or it is not possible to find an organic alteration that justifies them. Very often conventional diagnostic techniques do not show apparent lesions at the organic level. This situation forces doctors to work in uncertain situations. The absence of objective tools to help clinicians in the determination of real body damage of patients, produces, in some cases, incorrect evaluations and inappropriate treatments, with a negative impact on public health systems and patients. Biomechanics offers a new approach to obtain objective, quantitative and homogeneous data to improve personal injury assessment procedures. Biomechanics is based on the knowledge of mechanics, engineering, anatomy and physiology to study the behavior of the human body, analyzing the movements of the segments of the body, the restrictions of the joints and muscle strength. Biomechanics allows a better understanding of the relationship between the medical results and the actual functional state of the patient's body in order to corroborate their clinical hypothesis. However, despite the fact that biomechanics has proven its usefulness; it has not grown at the same speed in all European countries. This fact is due to the fact that biomechanics must be applied taking into account the legal framework and the regulatory system of each country, because it has legal consequences. In the course "AREYOUFINE?", The requirements of the target group of professionals to whom it is addressed have been taken into account, new contents of legislative harmonization have been proposed and adapted to the realities of the EU countries. The course is aimed at lawyers, doctors of different specialties (forensics, rehabilitators, traumatologists, etc.), physiotherapists, nurses, specialists in sports sciences, etc. The main results obtained are publicly offered in four languages: Spanish, Italian, Polish and English; for this, a web platform has been enabled in which they are openly available. The "AREYOUFINE?" Project offers a high quality content and adjusted to the needs of the target group thanks to the complementary competences of the consortium participating in the project. On the one hand, the Institute of Biomechanics of Valencia (IBV) is a center of recognized prestige in the field of biomechanics and has been responsible for the coordination of the project and has contributed to the development of content on biomechanical techniques. The University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), expert center in forensic sciences, in legal medicine and pedagogical methodologies. CIOP-PIB (Central Institute for Labor Protection), specialist center in occupational health. SSSUP (Scuola Universitaria Superiore Pisa) is a European reference university in applied law in Legal Medicine. On the other hand, CEREDOC (European Confederation of Specialized in the Assessment and Compensation of Physical Injury) has provided the consortium with a direct connection with European professionals of evaluation of physical and personal damage. For its part, IALM (International Association of Legal Medicine) has guaranteed contact and dissemination of the results of the project to the European area of experts in legal medicine.