Acceleration perturbations of daily living. A comparison to 'whiplash'
Allen, M.E.; Weir-Jones, I.; Motiuk, D.R.; Flewin, K.R.; Goring, R.D.; Kobetitch, R.; Broadhurst, A.
Spine 19(11): 1285-1290
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0362-2436 PMID: 8073323 Document Number: 810
Study Design: This study measured repeated human head accelerations (g) during daily activities. Objectives: Perturbations of daily living were compared to similar data from low velocity rear-end motor vehicle accidents. Summary of Background Data: 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 degree . 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 "whip- lash"-type motor vehicle accidents.
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