Abstract
The objective of the present study is to investigate the influence of neck muscle activation on whiplash neck injury of the occupants of a passenger vehicle under different severities of frontal and rear-end impact collisions. The finite element (FE) model has been used as a versatile tool to simulate and understand the whiplash injury mechanism for occupant injury prevention. However, whiplash injuries and injury mechanisms have rarely been investigated in connection with neck active muscle forces, which restricts the complete reappearance and understanding of the injury mechanism. In this manuscript, a mixed FE human model in a sitting posture with an active head-neck was developed. The response of the cervical spine under frontal and rear-end collision conditions was then studied using the FE model with and without neck muscle activation. The effect of the neck muscle activation on the whiplash injury was studied based on the results of the FE simulations. The results indicated that the neck active force influenced the head-neck dynamic response and whiplash injury during a collision, especially in a low-speed collision.
Highlights
Whiplash injuries occurring in car accidents are an increasing problem all over the world [1]; approximately 28–53% of traffic collision victims suffer this type of injury [2]
Krakenes et al [12] evaluated the condition of the alar ligament in whiplash injuries using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which indicated that the alar ligament was vulnerable to whiplash injury and that MRI was a useful tool to assess the severity of neck injury
The effect of the neck muscle activation on the whiplash injury was investigated based on the simulation results, the force-distraction response of the upper cervical ligament, the peak angle of the head, and the relative rotation angle of the cervical vertebrae, and whiplash injury criteria neck injury criterion (NIC), Nkm, and neck injury criterion (Nij) were used as the analysis parameters
Summary
Whiplash injuries occurring in car accidents are an increasing problem all over the world [1]; approximately 28–53% of traffic collision victims suffer this type of injury [2]. Ivancic and Xiao [11] evaluated the biofidelity of a human FE model via comparisons with in vivo data and investigated the neck load and motion responses during simulated rear-end collisions, followed by studies of the mechanisms of whiplash injury and prevention methods. These studies revealed that the potential anatomical injury sites of the neck, facet joints, spinal ligaments, intervertebral discs, dorsal root ganglia (DRG), neck muscles, and vertebral arteries were vulnerable spots [1]. Brault et al [14] studied the kinematic responses and injuries of neck muscles
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