A problem in many car collisions is injuries in the neck region caused by whiplash movements of the head. The knowledge of the underlying mechanisms in this type of injury is, however, limited.

The high strain rate loading on the nerve tissue of the neck in the whiplash motion can be a possible cause of these injuries. In vivo effects of dynamic loading on nerve function are not well documented.

A test set-up has been designed for dynamic in vivo testing of rabbit tibia1 nerve. A high strain rate elongation is applied to an exposed part of the nerve. The nerve strain is registered by a video image recording system with a strobe illumination. Effects of the elongation on the nerve function are determined by measurements of the maximal conduction velocity and action potential amplitude. A data acquisition software is used for stimulation and recording of action potentials.

The test set-up shows high repeatability in simulated test situation. The motion analysis system provides measurements with high time resolution (300 Hz) and 0,1 % field of view accuracy (0,1 mm).