This study offers the first comprehensive investigation of human head-neck response to low-speed lateral impact. Fourteen volunteers (9 males, 5 females; mean 32.7 years) were instrumented with a sensor package (gyroscopes and accelerometers) to measure three-dimensional linear accelerations and angular velocities of the head during lateral impacts inside an amusement park bumper car. Coronal plane vehicle and occupant kinematics were captured with a high-speed digital camera, speed trap, and vehicle-mounted accelerometers. EMG electrodes captured muscular activity bilaterally of the upper trapezius, sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and upper cervical neck muscles at the C2-C3 level. Each volunteer experienced four right-sided lateral impacts. During the simulated lateral impact collisions, the closing speed of the bullet vehicle ranged from 7.7 to 17.2 km/h, the target vehicle delta-V ranged from 8.9 to 14.7 km/h, and the target vehicle peak acceleration ranged from 3.3 to 6.4 Gs. The peak resultant linear head accelerations of the fourteen volunteers ranged from 2.3 to 14.7 Gs, with the largest component typically (75% occurrence) in the left lateral direction. EMG studies found the left C2-C3 neck muscles and the left SCM muscles had the most significant activity relative to the other muscle groupings, consistent with eccentric contraction of the left-sided neck muscles. There were no complaints of pain or injury by any of the volunteers immediately following testing or at one-week followup. Clinical assessments for cervical spine range-of-motion and strength were performed by a licensed physical therapist. Head accelerations were compared with a database of previously published volunteer head acceleration data associated with vigorous, non-injurious activities of daily living. Peak head accelerations and neck loads were found to be significantly less than the Injury Assessment Reference Values (IARVs).


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    Title :

    Head kinematics and upper neck loading during simulated low-speed lateral impact collisions


    Additional title:

    Kopfkinematik und Belastung des oberen Nackens während simulierter lateraler Aufprallkollision bei niedriger Geschwindigkeit




    Publication date :

    2006


    Size :

    18 Seiten, 10 Bilder, 6 Tabellen, 33 Quellen


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Storage medium


    Language :

    English




    Head Kinematics and Upper Neck Loading During Simulated Low-speed Lateral Impact Collisions

    Mkandawire, C. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2006





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    Sanderson, David J. / Siegmund, Gunter P. / Inglis, J. Timothy et al. | SAE Technical Papers | 2004