MECHANISMS FOR MECHANICAL DAMAGE IN CERVICAL LIGAMENTS DURING WHIPLASH. A 3D FE STUDY

Abstract

Whiplash injury is a frequent mechanism for chronic neck pain and accounts for half of all patient-care expenses from motor vehicle accidents [Quinlan et al., 2004]. Damage to the cervical spine can be classified according to the neck movement and the mechanical loads. The most frequent consequence of traffic accidents consists in damage to the soft tissues, that means, intervertebral discs, ligaments and muscles. The intervertebral ligaments are the key to spinal stability; if they are stretched or torn during a car crash, a myriad of symptoms can result. Previous in vitro biomechanical studies have investigated potential neck ligament injuries due to whiplash (Pearson et al., 2004). Lastly, Panjabi et al. (2006) applied quasi-static physiological loading to cervical spine specimens prior to and following rear impacts and documented injuries at the middle and lower cervical spine and increased injury risk due to rotated head posture at the time of impact, but injuries to specific ligaments were not identified. In this work, we used a finite strain anisotropic damage model for fibred soft tissues to predict the mechanisms for mechanical damage in the cervical ligaments during whiplash.