Validation of the neck injury criterion (NIC) using kinematic and clinical results from human subjects in rear-end collisions

Wheeler, Jeffrey B.; Smith, Terry A.; Siegmund, Gunter P.; Brault, John R.; King, David J.

Affiliations

¹Biomechanics Research & Consulting, Inc, El Segundo, CA, USA

²MacInnis Engineering Associates Ltd, Richmond, BC, Canada

Abstract

Neck Injury Criterion (NIC) values were calculated using human subject kinematic data and compared to their clinical results. Twenty-nine percent (29%) and 38% of the subjects exhibited whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) at rear-end speed changes of 4 and 8 km/h, respectively. None of the subjects’ NIC values exceeded 15 m²/s², which had been proposed as a tolerance level for AIS-1 cervical injury. NIC was not able to predict the presence of symptoms in our test population. This may be due to differences between our subjects’ anatomical source of pain and the nature and type of injury predicted by NIC.

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