Contents
Graham may not be beautiful, but according to its creators, it is almost indestructible. This hyper-realistic sculpture was created as a response to an initiative by the Australian Road Accidents Commission (TAC) to raise awareness of road safety. It was developed by the artist Patricia Piccinini, assisted by trauma surgeon Dr. Christian Kenfield and road accident expert Dr. David Logan. If we were like Graham, would we be immune to the injuries from accidents? Could we function normally with such a body? We asked Polish doctors about it.
- Graham was introduced to the world in 2016 as an interactive installation at the Victoria State Library in Melbourne
- Graham’s body is clearly altered, not to say distorted. The huge head is set on a barrel-shaped body, the neck is not visible at all, the legs from the knees down look like they were borrowed from some animal
- Until April 10, Graham was on display at the Center for Contemporary Art in Toruń, as part of an exhibition of works by Patricia Piccinini
- Each visitor could take advantage of the augmented reality technology and look under his skin to see what bone and tissue modifications will protect him
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
Graham’s appearance may scare you
Graham’s body is clearly altered, not to say distorted. He has a very massive skull, so his face appears extremely small, especially as his eyes, nose and ears are hidden in folds of skin.
In an accident, facial injuries are most often caused by hitting the steering wheel, dashboard, windshield or broken glass. These can be minor scratches, serious cuts or fractures. Victims usually have nose fractures, damaging not only the bone but also the sinuses. To remedy this, the developers reduced Graham’s nose and hid his ears in the structure of the skull. Around the more protruding areas, such as the cheekbones, adipose tissue has been added to absorb the energy generated by the impact, hence his flat or even concave face.
The rest of the text below the video.
A huge head is set on a barrel-shaped body, and the neck is not visible at all. On the chest, we notice rows of skin bags resembling saggy breasts. The legs down from the knees look like they’re borrowed from some agile animal. There is an additional joint in the middle of the shin and the feet are wide and hoof-like. In fact, only Graham’s hands escaped the modification.
Fot. East News/ Ferrari Press
All such dramatically changed parts of his body indicate the places most vulnerable to injuries caused by an accident. As TAC CEO Joe Calafiore said: “You survive if you run against a wall, but in a road collision, speeds are higher and forces acting on your body are greater, so your chances of survival are drastically reduced.”
At the time of an accident, the kinetic energy is transferred to the occupants of the vehicle and serious injuries can be caused at high speed. The most common damage to the chest, ribs and internal organs. Knee, leg, foot and ankle injuries are also common. However, the greatest forces usually act on parts of the body that are evolutionarily unfit for it – the head, the brain, and the neck.
Let’s take a closer look at the modifications to Graham’s body parts
The creators equipped it with natural cushioned armor.
Skull. One of the most severely injured parts of the body is the head, and the skull, absorbing the force of the blow, simply bursts. Graham’s skull was therefore designed to protect the bones from fracture, and thus to protect the brain. First, it is larger (resembles a helmet) with built-in crush zones. They help to slow down the head rush as it moves forward on impact.
Fot. East News/ Ferrari Press
Brain. This is one of the most sensitive parts of our body. It is surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid, which acts as a shock-absorbing safety mechanism, protecting it from impacts and shocks. In an accident, much greater forces are exerted than those our brain can withstand. They cause it to hit the walls of the skull, and thousands of nerve connections to break.
- Right or left hemisphere? This quiz will tell you how your brain works
Graham’s brain was offered decent support. Its skull is much larger, so it holds more cerebrospinal fluid and the ligaments that hold it.
Neck. When a car suddenly stops in a collision, some parts of our body are still moving. One of them is the head. Why? Basically, more pressure is exerted on the neck than it can withstand. The jerk causes the head to lean forward and suddenly stop, then retract, resulting in extreme elongation of both the neck and spine. Forward movement causes damage to the inflection, and reverse movement causes damage to the hyperextension.
Fot. East News/ Ferrari Press
This is an additional danger for the spinal cord as well. If it bends and stretches too much, it will break, causing paraplegia (paralysis of the muscles of the lower limbs) or tetraplegia (quadriplegia, which is a complete inability to move the limbs). To solve this problem, Graham was decapitated. The ribs were moved up to the skull, creating a kind of stabilizer for it, protecting the head against injuries resulting from sudden movement.
- Spinal cord injury. «From the waist down I felt nothing. I had two options »
Chest. To withstand the impact and minimize injuries to the chest and internal organs, Graham’s developers chose a natural airbag.
However, our first line of defense in the event of an impact is the ribs. The seat belts are designed to take advantage of this. The three-point belt rests over the ribs, sternum and pelvis, distributing the force of the impact over the entire chest. Of course, it would be best if we stopped gradually rather than suddenly, so airbags protect against forward momentum. Inflated, they form a barrier between the person and the steering wheel and the dashboard and gradually slow down the speed.
Graham’s ribs were strengthened. His chest is large and barrel shaped to withstand stronger blows. His torso, on the other hand, resembles an airbag. The bags inflated with air were placed between the ribs. At the moment of impact, they absorb its force and slow down the momentum. They also provide extra protection for the heart and other organs.
At Medonet Market you will find a wide range of rehabilitation treatments.
Knees. When a pedestrian is hit by a car, the impact is usually from the side. The problem then is the knee, which only bends in one direction, so it almost always breaks. Depending on the severity of the impact, the tendons can also be damaged. That’s why Graham’s knees move in all directions, and his knee joints have been reinforced with extra tendons, giving him flexibility and allowing his knees to bend in a variety of ways. In an accident, these knees are less prone to injury.
- What to eat when your knees hurt? You will feel relieved with these products
Legs and feet. In accidents involving pedestrians, many variables influence the severity of injuries. Examples include the size of the vehicle, speed and angle of impact. However, pedestrians are most likely to suffer from leg, foot and ankle injuries. The shin is the least protected bone because it is only covered with a thin layer of skin.
Graham can avoid similar injuries. It has strong, hoof-like legs with an additional shin joint for flexibility. It prevents bones from breaking and lets you spring out of the way like a spring.
The driver and passenger suffer from injuries to the feet and legs resulting from hitting the floor plate of the car. Additional joints provide Graham’s lower limbs with unprecedented flexibility and reduce the impact force exerted on the tibia.
Skin. A car hitting a pedestrian is comparable to a blunt force trauma. However, if a pedestrian falls on the road or comes across broken glass, additional cuts and abrasions await him. The skin can also be torn apart, causing nerve damage.
It is especially important for motorcyclists and cyclists who have minimal protection compared to driving cars. While skin injuries are usually not life threatening, they should not be forgotten.
Graham has thicker and harder skin. This is especially true around the shoulders, elbows, and hands that we instinctively stretch out to try to hold back our fall.
What do Polish medics think about Graham?
The experts we asked for their opinion on Graham agreed that the project is interesting and it certainly takes into account the parts of our body that are most vulnerable to injury. After a short analysis, they found some inspiring solutions, but also some disadvantages of Graham. Here’s what they told us:
Bartosz Cieślik-Wolski, MD, PhD, thoracic surgeon: The thoracic surgeon admits that injuries in this place are very common during traffic accidents. Unfortunately, seat belts and airbag protections are not able to XNUMX% protect the chest.
What did Dr. Cieślik-Wolski notice? First of all, its volume was increased. A barrel cage was created to obtain a larger area for absorbing the energy that is generated in a collision.
What could be called human airbags were also inserted into the intercostal spaces. They can support the functions of the ribs and sternum to protect the internal organs. The intercostal space is quite limited, so the pillows are also placed in the skin on the chest. They provide additional reinforcement, as well as protection of the ribs and internal organs. Often, in the course of an accident, the ribs are broken with the displacement of the bone fragments and the lungs are injured, so I think that this action is justified.
However, an analysis of anatomy alone does not allow the expert to say whether Graham would function well in normal life, because physiology is also important here.
– It seems to me that the internal organs would work smoothly, while the movements of the chest itself and the muscles building its walls could be slightly limited – adds Dr. Cieślik-Wolski. – The diaphragm is the main breathing muscle, but so are the muscles in the various layers of the chest. It is about the internal and external rib muscles, larger and smaller pectoral muscles. Will the modifications made prevent the chest movement from being impaired? These are soft tissue structures, so maybe it wouldn’t be a problem.
Dr hab. Bogusław Sadlik, MD, orthopedist: Protection of the head and brain is visible thanks to the enlargement of the cranial chamber and the addition of fatty tissue to cover the face and neck. The neck, which is a very sensitive element in the accident as a movable part of the spine, was liquidated. The knees are equipped with looser ligaments of increased strength, which increases the range of motion of the knee joint during an impact to the shin. I can also see an enlarged kneecap that acts as a shield for the knee. The feet have additional joints between the metatarsal bones, which increases the mobility of the forefoot and serves to obtain greater rebound flexibility – the kangaroo foot mechanism. In impacts and injuries to the dashboard, the limited mobility of the joint causes bone crushing, so such a joint with increased mobility could prevent fracture of the bones of the lower limbs.
– The lack of a movable neck is problematic, because it is thanks to the movable neck that we can quickly see the impending danger – says Dr. Sadlik. – I can’t imagine how to steer a vehicle without being able to move your neck. After all, you have to look left and right, e.g. at an intersection, to see if something is coming. This is what both drivers and pedestrians do. All participants of the movement look around a lot. Perhaps I could use an eye on the side – the doctor laughs.
Another point that worries Dr. Sadlik is the center of gravity of Graham’s body.
The human body is constructed in such a way that its center of gravity is approximately at the level of the navel. In Graham, it has been moved up and is at the level of the collarbone, which will impair coordination of movements, make it difficult to maintain balance and quickly change the direction of movement. This is how the laws of physics work. Graham’s agility and agility will deteriorate as a result of the large mass being moved upwards due to the changes around the neck and skull. He would move a bit like a hippo, even his legs modified in the direction of jumping would do him little, because without a moveable neck he would not notice the impending danger. To move such a mass, you need to put in a lot of force, and the inertia of the massive body will get in the way.
Dr. Sadlik suggests that Graham was designed to withstand crashes in the driver’s seat. However, in ordinary locomotion he would have big problems. It would certainly be easier for him to jump than to walk, and a stiff neck would make it very difficult to react quickly to the threat.
Both experts agree that in order to protect against the effects of car accidents, it is better to focus on the production of appropriate equipment that would play a similar role as Graham’s body modifications. This could be, for example, a coverall or a vest equipped with airbags, or a protective neck collar that already exists. It is used by rally and racing drivers.
“I’d rather wear some modified suit than have Graham’s body,” remarks Dr. Sadlik. – Evolution by operating over millions of years has given us bodies optimally suited to our specific needs and environment, so this project is more artistic than practical for me.
– The translation of the ideas that accompanied Graham’s creation into some external elements that the driver or passenger could assume as additional protection should be better checked – adds Dr. Cieślik-Wolski. – It would be more real, because by nature man does not trust any interference with his body.