MEA Forensic experts present at the 2026 World Congress of Biomechanics

Members of MEA Forensic’s Injury Biomechanics group are attending the 10^th World Congress of Biomechanics, taking place July 11–15 at the Vancouver Convention Centre in British Columbia. MEA researchers are contributing to the congress’ scientific program through a poster presentation and collaborative research. 

On July 14, MEA Forensic’s Director of Research, Dr. Gunter Siegmund, will present Can Wearable-Sensor Errors Confound the Mechanics Responsible for Concussion Injury?, a research poster co-authored by Dr. Benjamin Elkin and Dr. Stephanie Bonin and developed in collaboration with the University of British Columbia. The study examines whether measurement errors from wearable sensors could explain why field measurements sometimes associate concussion risk more strongly with linear head acceleration, while animal and computer models suggest that concussion is caused by angular head kinematics. The findings highlight the importance of understanding on-field sensor errors and the need for improved angular sensors to avoid confounding the head kinematics responsible for concussion injuries.

Gunter will also co-chair the In Vivo Spine Biomechanics session with Professor Ruth Wilcox of the University of Leeds on July 11. As an invited discussant in a special session organized by the International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury (IRCOBI), he will participate in IRCOBI Session 1: Injury Biomechanics Talks Given by Members of the IRCOBI Council on July 13, alongside session chair and IRCOBI President Professor Spyros Masouros and fellow discussants Valentina Graci, Jingwen Hu, Matthew Panzer, and Mazdak Ghajari. In addition, Gunter is a co-author of Neck Muscle Activation During Inverted Freefalls in Human Subjects, which will be presented by Dr. Loay Al-Salehi on July 11.

Held every four years, the World Congress of Biomechanics brings together researchers, engineers, clinicians, and other professionals from around the world to share advances across the field of biomechanics. WCB 2026 will feature scientific sessions, poster presentations, keynote lectures, and education sessions covering topics including injury, clinical, musculoskeletal, orthopaedic, and rehabilitation biomechanics. The congress returns to North America only once every 12 years and is jointly organized by the American Society of Biomechanics, the Canadian Society of Biomechanics/Société canadienne de biomécanique, and the European Society of Biomechanics.