title: Head kinematics during shaking associated with abusive head trauma.
abstract: Abusive head trauma (AHT) is a potentially fatal result of child abuse but the mechanisms of injury are controversial. To address the hypothesis that shaking alone is sufficient to elicit the injuries observed, effective computational and experimental models are necessary. This paper investigates the use of a coupled rigid-body computational modelling framework to reproduce in vivo shaking kinematics in AHT. A sagittal plane OpenSim computational model of a lamb was developed and used to interpret biomechanical data from in vivo shaking experiments. The acceleration of the head during shaking was used to provide in vivo validation of the associated computational model. Results of this study demonstrated that peak accelerations occurred when the head impacted the torso and produced acceleration magnitudes exceeding 200ms(-)(2). The computational model demonstrated good agreement with the experimental measurements and was shown to be able to reproduce the high accelerations that occur during impact. The biomechanical results obtained with the computational model demonstrate the utility of using a coupled rigid-body modelling framework to describe infant head kinematics in AHT.
authors.affiliation: Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: T O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Lintern
authors.affiliation: Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: N T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Puhulwelle Gamage
authors.affiliation: Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Bloomfield
authors.affiliation: Te Puaruruhau (Child Protection Team), Starship Children's Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Finch
authors.affiliation: Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Department of Engineering Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Taberner
authors.affiliation: Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Department of Engineering Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Nash
authors.affiliation: Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Department of Engineering Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: p.nielsen@auckland.ac.nz.
authors.forename: P M F
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Nielsen
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006257:Head; D006801:Humans; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D009068:Movement; D012756:Sheep
keywords: Abusive head trauma; Head kinematics; Rigid-body computational modelling