One of the first posts created for this site featured an animated poster that reduced the workings of the human body to mechanical analogies. But eyeball cameras and conveyor-belt nostrils aside, there is of course much of the human body that is undeniably mechanical, and a recent set of animated GIFs provides a very real look at the human skeleton in motion.
(Click on images to see full-size animations.)
Brainchild of Dr. Noah Weiss and created by Cameron Drake, these GIFs originated as x-ray videos of patients flexing various joints in such areas as shoulder, knee, elbow and hand. The files were then added to a “What Hurts?” feature on Dr. Weiss’ website, where each GIF is accompanied by information on common injuries, symptoms and treatments for the area happily flexing at the top of each entry.
But let’s face it, while the information is not doubt useful, these GIFs are just cool, and this website’s audiance won’t be limited to people looking for relief from troubled joints. (Though it may be interesting at some future date to add GIFs of joints suffering from some of the ailments described.)
You can see the rest of the xray animations on the Dr.Weiss’ site in the form of GIFs – or as videos on his YouTube page.