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Objective:
To synthesise the current evidence regarding the predictive ability of measures of physical function (PF) of the neck region and perceived PF on prognosis following a whiplash injury.
Methods:
Electronic databases were searched by two independent reviewers up to July 2020, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus and Web of...
Citations
... The rotation was limited so that the specimens did not sustain any soft tissue damage. Five hundred deg/s was chosen for the high rate test since this was typical of the rotation rate observed during 15g and 22g frontal crash scenarios [Fice, 2010]. ...
Soft tissues in the cervical spine are known to exhibit strain rate dependent behaviour. The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that the response of the cervical spine segment to loading in flexion and extension is also rate dependent. Eight cervical spines were sectioned into segments (four segments in total at each level from C2-C3 up to C7-T1) and tested in flexion and extension at one and five hundred degrees per second. The moment-rotation curves were recorded and a paired comparison test was done to identify evidence of increased spine stiffness at higher strain rates. This study found moderate evidence (p<0.05) of increased stiffness for five segments (three in flexion and two in extension).
Objective:
Whiplash injuries can occur in automotive crashes and may cause long-term health issues such as neck pain, headache, and visual and auditory disturbance. Evidence suggests that nonneutral head posture can significantly increase the potential for injury in a given impact scenario, but epidemiological and experimental data are limited and do not provide a quantitative assessment of the increased potential for injury. Although there have been some attempts to evaluate this important issue using finite element models, none to date have successfully addressed this complex problem.
Methods:
An existing detailed finite element neck model was evaluated in nonneutral positions and limitations were identified, including musculature implementation and attachment, upper cervical spine kinematics in axial rotation, prediction of ligament failure, and the need for repositioning the model while incorporating initial tissue strains. The model was enhanced to address these issues and an iterative procedure was used to determine the upper cervical spine ligament laxities. The neck model was revalidated using neutral position impacts and compared to an out-of-position cadaver experiment in the literature. The effects of nonneutral position (axial head rotation) coupled with muscle activation were studied at varying impact levels.
Results:
The laxities for the ligaments of the upper cervical spine were determined using 4 load cases and resulted in improved response and predicted failure loads relative to experimental data. The predicted head response from the model was similar to an experimental head-turned bench-top rear impact experiment. The parametric study identified specific ligaments with increased distractions due to an initial head-turned posture and the effect of active musculature leading to reduced ligament distractions.
Conclusions:
The incorporation of ligament laxity in the upper cervical spine was essential to predict range of motion and traumatic response, particularly for repositioning of the neck model prior to impact. The results of this study identify a higher potential for injury in out-of-position rear collisions and identified at-risk locations based on ligament distractions. The model predicted higher potential for injury by as much as 50% based on ligament distraction for the out-of-position posture and reduced potential for injury with muscle activation. Importantly, this study demonstrated that the location of injury or pain depends on the initial occupant posture, so that both the location of injury and kinematic threshold may vary when considering common head positions while driving.
The cervical spine ligaments play an essential role in limiting the physiological ranges of motion in the neck; however, traumatic loading such as that experienced in automotive crash scenarios can lead to ligament damage and result in neck injury. The development of detailed neck models to evaluate the response and the potential for injury requires accurate ligament mechanical properties at relevant loading rates. The objective of this study was to measure the mechanical properties of the cervical spine ligaments, by performing tensile tests at elongation rates relevant to car crash scenarios, using younger specimens (≤50 years), in simulated in vivo conditions, and to provide a comprehensive investigation of gender and spinal level effects. The five ligaments investigated were the anterior longitudinal ligament, posterior longitudinal ligament, capsular ligament, ligamentum flavum, and interspinous ligament. Ligaments were tested in tension at quasi-static (0.5 s(-1)), medium (20 s(-1)) and high (150-250 s(-1)) strain rates. The high strain rates represented typical car crash scenarios as determined using an existing cervical spine finite element model. In total, 261 ligament tests were performed, with approximately even distribution within elongation rate, spinal level, and gender. The measured force-displacement data followed expected trends compared to previous studies. The younger ligaments investigated in this study demonstrated less scatter, and were both stiffer and stronger than comparable data from older specimens reported in previous studies. Strain rate effects were most significant, while spinal level effects were limited. Gender effects were not significant, but consistent trends were identified, with male ligaments having a higher stiffness and failure force than female ligaments.
