HEAD AND NECK INJURY CRITERIA. A CONSENSUS WORKSHOP

This publication contains the proceedings of a consensus workshop on head and neck injury criteria held in Washington, D.C., March 26-27, 1981. Evaluations of existing national and international criteria and reviews of head/neck injury mechanisms were completed. This effort provided the basis of recommendations for what type work must be done to improve the scientific merit of injury criteria now in use as the basis for standards and regulations. Attendees included scientists and other individuals from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany and Japan, representing major universities, government agencies and manufacturers. The most important fact that emerged was the recognition of a serious mismatch now occurring between the quantity and quality of "engineering" and "medical" data being collected in various studies. The development of interagency collaborative programs was suggested to correct this situation. Participants also noted the doubtful applicability of the Head Injury Criterion (HIC) to noncontact head injuries, its inaccurate extrapolation temporally at both ends, and its failure to address the problem of brain injuries caused by rotational acceleration or associated with the occurrence of skull fractures due to contact phenomena when stresses in excess of the fracture limit are achieved. It was also recognized that currently suggested criteria for neck injury are weak and that much more work needs to be done on neck and head/neck interface injury problems, specifics of which are given in the proceedings.

Media Info

  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 253 p.

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00387710
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
  • Report/Paper Numbers: HS-806 434
  • Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
  • Created Date: Aug 30 1984 12:00AM