This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
Spinal Cord Injuries to Children in Real World Accidents
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
In the last twelve years, the overwhelming effectiveness of restraining children in the United States, Canada and Europe has been proven in reducing death and injury in automobile accidents. Despite the proven benefits of restraining children, one type of injury has not been prevented. This paper is an analysis of stretch injuries to the spinal cord in the upper thoracic or cervical spine.
This paper discusses, in general, spinal cord injuries from a biomechanical point of view. The relationship between various loading conditions and the resulting types of spinal cord injuries is discussed. This paper also examines seven real world automobile accidents. Information for each case includes: vehicles involved, type of roadway, crash Delta-V, occupant direction of motion, restraint type, injuries to occupants, and anthropometry of child with spinal cord injury. A description and location of each spinal cord injury that occurred at the time of the accident is discussed. A discussion of a possible injury mechanism for spinal cord stretch injuries to children is also given.
The results of this research indicate that infants should ride in rearward-facing child restraint systems as long as possible. It was noted that the crash Delta-V that resulted in serious spinal cord injury is proportional to the child's age. All but one spinal cord injury could have been prevented if the appropriate child restraint system had been used, or if the one that was used had been used properly. Finally, the spinal cord injuries in this study could not have been predicted by shear forces or bending moments at the top of the neck.
Recommended Content
| Technical Paper | Atlanto-Occipital Fracture Dislocation in Lap-Belt Restrained Children |
| Technical Paper | Cervical Distraction Injuries to Children |
Authors
Citation
Stalnaker, R., "Spinal Cord Injuries to Children in Real World Accidents," SAE Technical Paper 933100, 1993, https://doi.org/10.4271/933100.Also In
References
- Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention-Where We Are Position Papers from the Third National Injury Control Conference U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers of Disease Control April 1991 80
- Insurance Institute for Highway Safety General Facts 1992 July 1992
- Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Children, Facts 1992
- Associsrion for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine Bulletin 2 3 June 1989
- Comparison of Restraint Use Rates, Fatal Accident Reporting System 1983-1992 Restraint System Use in 19 U.S. Cities Surveys (1983-1991) National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, Office of Occupant Protection 1992
- National Safety Council A ccident Facts 1988
- Fuchs. S. et al. “Cervical Spine Fractures Sustained by Young Children in Forward-Facing Car Seats” Pediatrics 84 2 August 1989 348 354
- Langwieder, K. Hummel, T. “Neck Injuries to Restrained Children” 1989 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of impacts, Workshop “Future in Child Restraints”
- Hueike, D. et al. “Car Crashes and Non-Head Impact Cervical Spine Injuries in Infants and Children” SAE International Congress and Exposition February 1392
- Huelke, D. et al. “Cervical Fractures and Fracture-Dislocations Without Head impacts Sustained by Restrained Occupants” 36th Annual Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine October 1992 1 23
- Janssen, E. et al. “Cervical Spine Loads Induced in Restrained Child Dummies” Proceedings, 35th Stapp Car Crash Conference 1991 447 467
- Glaeser, K. “New Test Conditions for Child Restraint Systems” Proceedinas, 36th Stapp Car Crash Conference 1992 69 79
- Planath, I. et al. “Synthesis of Data Towards Neck Protection Criteria for Children” 1992 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impacts September 1992 155 166
- McElhaney, J. et al. “Etiology of Trauma to The Cervical Spine” Impact Injury of The Head and Spine Ewing, C. et al. Springfield, IL Charles C. Thomas 1983 41 71
- Athletic Injuries to the Head. Neck and Face, Second Edition Torg, J. St. Louis, MO Mosby Year-Book, Inc. 1991
- Mechanisms of Head and Spine Trauma Sances, A. et al. Goshen, NY Aloray, Inc. 1986
- Impact Iniury of The Head and Spine Ewing, C. et al. Springfield, IL Charles C. Thomas 1983
- Biomechanics of Impact Iniury and Injury Tolerances of the Head-Neck Complex Backaitis, S. Warrendale, PA Society of Automotive Engineers 1993
- From study of personal collection of child x-rays
- Burdi, A. et al. “Infants and Children in the Adult World of Automobile Safety Design: Pediatric and Anatomical Considerations for Design of Child Restraints” Proceedings of the Biomechanical and Human Factors Conference June 1969
- Thibault, L. et al. “The Strain Dependant Pathophysiological Consequences of Inertial Loading on Central Nervous System Tissue” Proceedings of The 1990 International IRCOBI Conference on The Biomechanics of Impacts September 1990 191 202
- Meaney, D. Thibault, L. “Physical Studies of Cortical Brain Deformation in Response to High Strain Rate Inertial Loading” Proceedings of The 1990 International IRCOBI Conference on The Biomechanics of Impacts September 1990 215 224
- Stalnaker, R.L. Mendis, K.K. Rojanavanich, V. 1992 “The Unified Head Injury Theory” Proceedings of the ASME 1992 European Joint Conference on Engineering Systems (ESDA) June 1992 105 114
- Lenox, J. et al. “Development of Neck Injury Tolerance Criteria in Human Surrogates, I. Static Tensile Loading in the Baboon Neck Preliminary Observations” Proceedinps of the Ninth Internationa l Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles November 1982 279 286