title: Prediction of cervical spine injury risk for the 6-year-old child in frontal crashes.
abstract: This article presents a series of 49 km/h sled tests using the Hybrid III 6-year-old dummy in a high-back booster, a low-back booster, and a three-point belt. Although a 10-year review at a level I trauma center showed that noncontact cervical spine injuries are rare in correctly restrained booster-age children, dummy neck loads exceeded published injury thresholds in all tests. The dummy underwent extreme neck flexion during the test, causing full-face contact with the dummy's chest. These dummy kinematics were compared to the kinematics of a 12-year-old cadaver tested in a similar impact environment. The cadaver test showed neck flexion, but also significant thoracic spinal flexion which was nonexistent in the dummy. This comparison was expanded using MADYMO simulations in which the thoracic spinal stiffness of the dummy model was decreased to give a more biofidelic kinematic response. We conclude that the stiff thoracic spine of the dummy results in high neck forces and moments that are not representative of the true injury potential.
authors.affiliation: Center for Applied Biomechanics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902, USA. cps4f@virginia.edu
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Sherwood
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Rooij
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Kent
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Crandall
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Orzechowski
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Eichelberger
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kallieris
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000293:injuries* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D015370:Infant Equipment; D008348:Manikins; D008954:Models, Biological; D009038:Motion; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment