Injuries of the lower legs - foot, ankle joint, tibia;​ mechanisms, tolerance limits, injury-criteria evaluation of a recent biomechanic experiment-series (impact-tests with a pneumatic-biomechanic-impactor)

Schueler, Florian<sup>1</sup>; Mattern, Rainer<sup>1</sup>; Zeidler, Falk<sup>2</sup>; Scheunert, Dieter<sup>2</sup>

The purpose of a recent biomechanic experiment series of 24 cadaver tests was a claryfication of injurymechanisms and tolerancelimits of the lower legs, especially of the foot, ankle joint and tibia. Using a pneumatic coaxial-impactor, fresh, uninjured PostMortem Human Subjects (PMHS) were exposed to an impact against the plantar foot surface.

The experimental set-up was designed to simulate a floorboard-foot impact, which occurs when the moving (intruding) footwell of a car hits the foot and viceversa in a frontal collision.

The independent variable was the velocity of the impacting mass. Each foot has been used for a separate experiment. Accelerations of the tibia were recorded from bone mounted accelerometers and impact forces as well as accelerations of the foot have been determined by transducers located in especially designed shoe integrated measurement (SIM).

Extent and pattern of post-impact injuries were detected by evaluation of x-rays and subsequent dissection of the knee- and ankle joint.

The same test set-up was used for two subsequent series of a total of 60 dummy tests, using a dummy H HI. In the first series (20 tests) the dummy was equipped with instrumented legs, in the second series (40 tests) with an advanced lower leg.

The results of this study contribute to

injury-mechénisms and tolerance—limits as a function of the test variables
correlation of PMHS - and dummy test-results
discussion of injury- and performance-criteria
discussion of meaéuremehts on dummies lower legs as predictors for lower leg injuries.

Year

Entry

1970

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1972

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1980

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1994

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1992

Otte D, von Rheinbaben H, Zwipp H. Biomechanics of injuries to the foot and ankle joint of car drivers and improvements for an optimal car floor development. In: Proceedings of the 36th Stapp Car Crash Conference. November 2-4, 1992; Seattle, WA. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineers:43-58. SAE 922514.