Damage to more vulnerable parts of the body like the head and spine is thankfully less common.

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For every inch you tilt your head forward, the pressure on your spine doubles.

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This snarling, fire-snorting Chimera, which has a storied history, epitomizes the mythical monster that figures in many classical Greek texts and was first mentioned, among those that survive, in Homer's "Iliad": it's a dramatic fusion of a lion's head and body, a serpent forming the tail, and a horned, bearded goat's head and neck protruding from the spiked spine of the lion.

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After going into the pool head-first, Mr Uren fractured his spine in three places.

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The assessment is based on an analysis of where the animal's spine would have entered the skull and the position of muscle attachments on its head.

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The search turned up traces of the building, and then something altogether more exciting: A human skeleton, complete with evidence of battle wounds -- a blow to the head, and an arrow in the back -- and scoliosis, or curvature of the spine.

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