Inducing head motion with a novel helmet during head-first impact can mitigate neck injury metrics:​ an experimental proof-of-concept investigation using mechanical surrogates

Nelson, T. S.; Cripton, P. A.

Affiliations

¹Injury Biomechanics Laboratory and Division of Orthopaedic Engineering Research, Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Orthopaedics University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada

²International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD) University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada

Abstract and keywords

There is a need for cervical spine injury prevention from head-first impacts in many sports and in various transportation contexts. We present an experimental helmet prototype that induces anterior or posterior head motion in a head-first impact as a mitigation strategy. Instrumented mechanical surrogates for the human neck, head, and helmet were tested on a drop tower. Peak lower-neck axial force and moment were used as injury metrics. A factorial experiment examining 3 escapes, 3 platform angles, and 2 platform stiffnesses was performed. The appropriate head-motion "escape" reduced mean peak axial force by up to 56% and moment by up to 72% compared to no-escape.

Keywords: Sports Accidents, Neck, Protection, Helmets, Product Development

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Cited By (5)

Year	Entry
2014	Van Toen C, Street J, Oxland TR, Cripton PA. Acoustic emission signals from injuries of three‐vertebra specimens. In: Proceedings of the 2014 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 10-12, 2014; Berlin, Germany.176-185.
2012	Van Toen C, Street J, Oxland TR, Cripton PA. Acoustic emission signals can discriminate between compressive bone fractures and tensile ligament injuries in the spine during dynamic loading. J Biomech. June 1, 2012;45(9):1643-1649.
2010	Nelson TS, Cripton PA. A new biofidelic sagittal plane surrogate neck for head-first impacts. Traffic Inj Prev. June 2010;11(3):309-319.
2011	Nelson TS. Towards a Neck Injury Prevention Helmet for Head-First Impacts: A Mechanical Investigation [PhD thesis]. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia; December 2011.
2013	Van Toen CY. Biomechanics of Cervical Spine and Spinal Cord Injury Under Combined Axial Compression and Lateral Bending Loading [PhD thesis]. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia; December 2013.