This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
Vehicle Rear Impacts and Spinal Disc Herniations in Occupants: Is there a Basis for Causation?
Technical Paper
2017-01-1458
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
This content contains downloadable datasets
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
Disc herniations in the spine are commonly associated with degenerative changes, and the prevalence increases with increasing age. With increasing number of older people on U.S. roads, we can expect an increase in clinical findings of disc herniations in occupants involved in rear impacts. Whether these findings suggest a causal relationship is the subject of this study. We examined the reported occurrence of all spine injuries in the National Automotive Sampling System - Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) database from 1993 to 2014. There were over 4,000 occupants that fit the inclusion criteria. The findings in this study showed that, in the weighted data of 2.9 million occupants, the most common spine injury is an acute muscle strain of the neck, followed by strain of the low back. The delta-V of a rear impact is a reliable indicator of the rate of acute cervical strain in occupants exposed to such impacts. The number of disc herniations was small in all three segments of the spine: five in the neck, none in the thoracic spine, and two in the lumbar spine for the 4,348 raw cases, compared to a background prevalence of 20 to 30 % disc abnormalities in asymptomatic individuals. Kinematic analyses of human volunteers, post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) and anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) from other studies show that the known experimental mechanism of causing a traumatic lumbar disc herniation by hyperflexion and axial compression is not operative during a rear impact. Taken together, the findings from the real world data in this study, the occupant kinematic analyses from other studies in conjunction with the known experimental mechanism to produce a traumatic disc herniation all appear to support the hypothesis that there is a lack of a causal link between rear impacts and traumatic disc herniations in the spine.
Recommended Content
| Technical Paper | Lumbar Spine Injuries in Rear Impacts of Different Severities |
| Technical Paper | Spinal Disc Herniations in Occupants Involved in Frontal Impacts |
Citation
Lam, T. and Ivarsson, B., "Vehicle Rear Impacts and Spinal Disc Herniations in Occupants: Is there a Basis for Causation?," SAE Technical Paper 2017-01-1458, 2017, https://doi.org/10.4271/2017-01-1458.Data Sets - Support Documents
| Title | Description | Download |
|---|---|---|
| Unnamed Dataset 1 | ||
| Unnamed Dataset 2 | ||
| Unnamed Dataset 3 | ||
| Unnamed Dataset 4 |
Also In
References
- Adams , M. and Hutton , W. The mechanics of prolapsed intervertebral disc International Orthopaedics 6 4 249 253 1982
- Brinckman , P. Injury of the annulus fibrosus and disc protrusions. An in vitro investigation on human lumbar discs Spine 11 2 149 153 1986
- Battie , C. , Videman , T. and Parent , E. Lumbar disc degeneration: epidemiology and genetic influences Spine 29 23 2679 2690 2004
- Boden , S. , McCowin , P. , Davis , D. Abnormal magnetic resonance scans of the lumbar spine in asymptomatic subjects: A prospective investigation Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Am) 72 403 408 1990
- Jensen , M. , Brant-Zawadzki , M. , Obuchowski , N , Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine in people without back pain New England Journal of Medicine 331 2 69 73 1994
- Matsumoto , M. , Okada , E. , Ichihara , I , Age-related changes of thoracic and cervical intervertebral discs in asymptomatic subjects Spine 35 14 1359 1364 2010 10.1097/BRS.0b013e3181c17067
- Boden , S. , McCowin , P. , Davis , D. Abnormal magnetic-resonance scans of the cervical spine in asymptomatic subjects. A prospective investigation Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Am) 72 8 1178 1184 1990
- Matsumoto , M. , Fujimara , Y. , Suzuki , N. MRI of cervical intervertebral discs in asymptomatic subjects Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Br) 80 1 19 24 1998
- Brinjikji , P. , Luetmer , B. , Comstock , B. Systematic literature review of imaging features of spinal degeneration in asymptomatic populations American Journal of Neuroradiology 36 4 811 816 2015 10.3174/ajnr.A4173
- NCSA Traffic Safety Facts National Center for Statistics and Analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 2004
- NCSA Traffic Safety Facts National Center for Statistics and Analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 2014
- Gates , D. , Bridges , A. , Welch , T. , Lam , T. Lumbar Loads in Low to Moderate Speed Rear Impacts SAE Technical Paper 2010-01-0141 2010 10.4271/2010-01-0141
- McConnell , W. , Howard , R. , Guzman , H. , Bomar , J. Analysis of Human Test Subject Kinematic Responses to Low Velocity Rear End Impacts SAE Technical Paper 930889 1993 10.4271/930889
- McConnell , W. , Howard , R. , Poppel , J. , Krause , R. Human Head and Neck Kinematics After Low Velocity Rear-End Impacts - Understanding “Whiplash” SAE Technical Paper 952724 1995 10.4271/952724
- Ono , K. , Kaneoka , K. , Wittek , A. , and Kajzer , J. Cervical Injury Mechanism Based on the Analysis of Human Cervical Vertebral Motion and Head-Neck-Torso Kinematics During Low Speed Rear Impacts SAE Technical Paper 973340 1997 10.4271/973340
- Panjabi , M. , Grauer , J. , Cholewicki , J. Whiplash trauma: a biomechanical viewpoint Gunzburg , R. , Szpalski M. Whiplash Injuries Philadelphia Lippincott-Raven 1998
- Siegmund , G. , Heinrichs , B. , Lawrence , J. , and Philippens , M. Kinetic and Kinematic Responses of the RID2a, Hybrid III and Human Volunteers in Low-Speed Rear-End Collisions SAE Technical Paper 2001-22-0011 2001
- Siegmund , G. , King , D. , Lawrence , J. , Wheeler , J. Head/Neck Kinematic Response of Human Subjects in Low-Speed Rear-End Collisions SAE Technical Paper 973341 1997 10.4271/973341
- Szabo , T. , Welcher , J. , Anderson , R. , Rice , M. Human Occupant Kinematic Response to Low Speed Rear-End Impacts SAE Technical Paper 940532 1994 10.4271/940532
- Szabo , T. and Welcher , J. Human Subject Kinematics and Electromyographic Activity During Low Speed Rear Impacts SAE Technical Paper 962432 1996 10.4271/962432
- Welch , T. , Bridges , A. , Gates , D. , Heller , M. An Evaluation of the BioRID II and Hybrid III During Low- and Moderate-Speed Rear Impact SAE Int. J. Passeng. Cars – Mech. Syst. 3 1 704 733 2010 10.4271/2010-01-1031
- Yang , N. , Lam , T. , Dainty , D. , and Lau , E. Lumbar Spine Injuries in Rear Impacts of Different Severities SAE Technical Paper 2013-01-0221 2013 10.4271/2013-01-0221
- Yoganandan , N. and Pintar , F. Biomechanics of Human Occupants in Simulated Rear Crashes: Documentation of Neck Injuries and Comparison of Injury Criteria SAE Technical Paper 2000-01-SC14 2000
- NHTSA National Automotive Sampling System -Crashworthiness Data System 2013 Analytical User's Manual U.S. Department of Transportation 2014
- AAAM Abbreviated Injury Scale 2005 Revision Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine Barrington, IL 2005