ABSTRACT
Regional variations exist for specic systems within the body. For example, the biomechanical response of the lumbar spine is known to be quite different from the cervical spine due to structural and material differences.1 However, experimental research has generally demonstrated relative consistency from person to person for a given system. The level of consistency increases when accounting for specic factors that are known to affect the biomechanical response of human tissues and structures. Two of the factors that most inuence human biomechanics are gender and age. This chapter will serve as a review of existing literature on gender-and age-related biomechanical differences. It is not intended to be comprehensive. Rather, it will discuss primarily experimental studies that have endeavored to quantify the effects of gender and age on the physiologic and traumatic biomechanics of human tissues.
