title: Biomechanical response targets for physical and computational models of the pediatric trunk.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper quantifies pediatric thoracoabdominal response to belt loading to guide the scaling of existing adult response data and to assess the validity of a juvenile porcine abdominal model for application to the development of physical and computational models of the human child.
  
  
  METHODS
  Table-top belt-loading experiments were performed on 6, 7, and 15 year-old pediatric post-mortem human subjects (PMHS). Response targets are reported for diagonal belt and distributed loading of the anterior thorax and for horizontal belt loading of the abdomen.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pediatric PMHS exhibited abdominal response similar to the swine, including the degree of rate sensitivity. The thoraces of the PMHS were as stiff as, or slightly more stiff than, published adult corridors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An assessment of age-related changes in thoracic stiffness suggests that the effective stiffness of the chest increases through the fourth decade of life and then decreases, resulting in stiffness values similar for children and elderly adults.
authors.affiliation: University of Virginia, Center for Applied Biomechanics, Charlottesville, Virginia 22911, USA. rwk3c@virginia.edu
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kent
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Lopez-Valdes
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lamp
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parent
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kerrigan
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lessley
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salzar
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sochor
authors.forename: Dale
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bass
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Maltese
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002648:Child; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012622:Seat Belts; D013552:Swine; D013909:Thorax / Q000502:physiology*