A Physician-Engineer's View of Low Velocity Rearend Collisions

Physicians are seeing significant numbers of “soft tissue” injuries to the neck and head ostensibly attributable to low velocity rearend collisions. These include cervical strain/sprain, headache, temporomandibular joint problems, and exacerbation of degenerative joint disease. The vehicle-occupant kinematics, injury models, diagnostic criteria, treatments, and prognoses are controversial. This paper will address some of these considerations from the perspectives of the accident reconstructionist, the biomechanicist, and the physician.