KINEMATICS OF THE HUMAN SPINE IN REAR IMPACT AND THE BIOFIDELITY OF CURRENT DUMMIES

There is widespread concern over the incidence of whiplash injuries in the world of automotive medicine and much research has been conducted into this poorly understood injury. This paper describes research into the dynamic mechanical behaviour of the whole human spine in low speed rear impacts. A series of rear impact sled tests using ten male volunteers has been conducted at 4 km/h and 7 km/h and comparative tests using Hybrid III, THOR and BioRID at 7 km/h. The principal aims of the research were to: (1) Determine human kinematics in a low speed rear impact and to use this as a target for the future design of a rear impact dummy; (2) Study the interaction between a human torso and a semi-rigid seatback and to compare this with the equivalent interaction between dummies used for rear impact; and (3) Evaluate the muscle activity in some of the major muscle groups of the neck during rear impact. The dummies evaluated were the Hybrid III with the TRID neck, BioRID and the THOR dummy with its standard neck and with a EuroSID-1 neck. The most biofidelic dummy appeared to be the BioRID dummy. This was particularly evident when comparing dynamic seatback pressure mapping. Surface electromyography (EMG) measurements were taken during the volunteer tests. These showed that some of the major neck muscles had a rapid involuntary response to the impact, and appeared to be rapid enough possibly to affect the head and neck kinematics during the impact. The responses may have been stimulated by motion in the lower body, which was the first body part to respond to the impact. The EMG results suggest that observations based on cadaveric testing, for neck behaviour may be misleading and that any criteria that may be adopted to evaluate whiplash injury may have to incorporate more than simple neck based measurements. For the covering abstract see ITRD E117734.

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• Authors:
  • ROBERTS, A K
  • Hynd, D
  • DIXON, P R
  • MURPHY, O
  • Magnusson, M
  • POPE, M H
• Conference:
  • PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON VEHICLE SAFETY 2002, HELD MAY 2002 AT THE IMECHE HEADQUARTERS, LONDON, UK
• Publication Date: 2002-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 227-43

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Anthropometry; Dummies; Injuries; Rear end crashes; Vertebrae
• ITRD Terms: 1618: Anthropometric dummy; 2040: Cervical vertebrae; 2163: Injury; 1620: Rear end collision
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00944668
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• ISBN: 1-86058-388-1
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Jul 7 2003 12:00AM