Bike crashes: what causes brain damage (max force experienced or average force experienced)?

Question

or both??? any useful websites would be really helpful too :) thanks!

Answer 1

Brain damage (vs. a concussion) is the result of *severe* trauma from an impact (as well as other things like oxygen deprivation, disease, etc.).  

Read up on concussions and post-concussive syndrome on the web at a site like WebMD or wikipedia.   If you want to know more about actual brain damage, it's not that easy to learn because there are so many factors and presentations.  You'll need to narrow down your focus and go from there, but concussions are a good place to start.

It doesn't take much to hurt your noggin, even with a helmet on.  It depends on how and where you hit it.....maximum and minimum forces aren't going to apply to the human brain like they might on paper when you compare physical material properties (metals, concrete, etc.).