Dr. Haley,
I read with interest your web page on Erb's palsy from traumatic birth syndrome. In particular, I am interested in the force levels you quoted. As you may be aware, I have published articles on how much force it takes to deliver a newborn (e.g., Allen R, Sorab J, Gonik B. Risk factors for shoulder dystocia: An engineering study of clinician-applied forces. Obstet Gynecol 1991;77:352-5). Until seeing your webpage, I hadn't seen any other data on quantitative force measurements. I would be grateful for citations to Dr. Duncan's work.
Thank you.
 

Reply:
Dear Dr.:
Thank you for your interest in the Erb's palsy web page. The force levels I quoted came from: Towbin A., "Latent Spinal Cord and Brain Stem Injury in Newborn Infants", Develop, Med. Child Neurol. 1969, 11, 54-68. Abraham Towbin lists the reference of Duncan's work as: Duncan, J.M. (1874) "Laboratory note: on the tensile strength of the fresh adult foetus." Brit. med. J., II, 763.

The fact that Towbin had to go so far back (1874) indicates that the scientific community will not tolerate such research today. Understandable. When writing the Erb's page, I was trying to find out how much head/neck traction is acceptable while assisting in delivery. What have you found? I just may get around to looking up your work. Thanks for the Ref.
Be Well,
Michael Haley, D.C.