Acceleration perturbations of daily living. A comparison to 'whiplash'.
METHODS
This study measured repeated human head accelerations (g) during daily activities.


OBJECTIVE
Perturbations of daily living were compared to similar data from low velocity rear-end motor vehicle accidents.


BACKGROUND
Past assumptions suggest that motor vehicle accident severity does not correlate with the degree of sustained injury. Early engineering studies indicated that occupant disturbance in a low velocity motor vehicle accident is minor.


METHODS
Eight volunteers were perturbed with 13 daily activities. Helmets on the heads of volunteers were instrumented with tri-planar accelerometers with output sampling of 500 Hz, sensitivity of 0.02 g, and a range of +/- 20 g.


RESULTS
There was wide inter-subject response for various perturbations. Plopping backward into a chair caused maximum peak acceleration horizontally at 5.6 g and vertically at 8.5 g, with force vector of 10.1 g at 54.9 degrees. Mean impulse duration was 0.19 sec. There was no hint of injury in any subject.


CONCLUSIONS
Perturbations of daily living compared similarly to the jostling expected in low velocity "whiplash"-type motor vehicle accidents.
Allen
M E
ME
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia.
Weir-Jones
I
I
Motiuk
D R
DR
Flewin
K R
KR
Goring
R D
RD
Kobetitch
R
R
Broadhurst
A
A
D000054:Acceleration; D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D001336:Automobiles / Q000592:standards; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006257:Head / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009333:Neck / Q000502:physiology*; D014911:Whiplash Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology