By using medical imaging and computer simulated models, researchers at the University of Sheffield in England have recently tested the strength of children's bones to help manufacture safer car seats, toys and other infant and children targeted products, according to a recent article from Phys.org.  

The new study recently published online in the Journal of Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology is the first of its kind to analyze infant bone strength in relation to age and weight using 3D models generated from CT scans, according to the article.  

"Bone fractures are common in childhood and have been estimated to account for 25 percent of all pediatric injuries. They can broadly be categorized into accidental or inflicted injuries," said Amaka Offiah, MD, PhD, reader in pediatric musculoskeletal imaging in the department of oncology and metabolism at the University of Sheffield and honorary consultant pediatric radiologist at Sheffield Children's Hospital, in a prepared statement. "Currently, distinguishing between these can often be extremely difficult. Due to the difficulties in obtaining pediatric bone samples there has been a lack of research to provide evidence-based information on bone strength in young children." 

To analyze how children's bones grow during early stages of life, researchers created 3D models of the femurs of infants to 3-year-old children. To do this, CT scans and computer models were used to set up scenarios to see how various amounts of force affects bones. 

"There is currently very little research looking into the bone strength of young children. Our data can be applied to help car seat manufacturers, pram manufacturers, toy manufacturers and any other companies designing children's products, to design and make safer products and use our modeling of bone strength in testing their products before bringing them to market," said Xinshan Li, PhD, from the Insigneo Institute and the University of Sheffield, in a prepared statement.