Basic Whiplash Biomechanics
In the early days of whiplash research, the basic motions of the human body during a rear end crash were sketched out as follows:
The occupant is sitting in her vehicle with head erect.
The car is hit from behind, pushing the seat forward. Inertia keeps the occupant's head from moving, so it moves backward in relation to the rest of the body and the car.
Occupant rebound occurs, where the head finally speeds up and catches up with the rest of the body. Flexion occurs in this phase, and if the collision is severe enough, the occupant may strike her head on the steering wheel.For the first 20 years or so of whiplash research, engineers and physicians assumed that injury from a rear end collision was caused by "hyperextension" of the spine beyond its normal range of motion. This theory worked fine until engineers found that occupants were reporting injury in many low to moderate speed collisions. This was confusing, because the neck did not hyperextend at these low speeds, but was well within the range of normal spinal motion.
In short, the basic model of whiplash mechanics was inadequate.
If there was no hyperextension, how could the spine be injured? The answer lies in the complex anatomy of the neck. Next section: Cervical Spine Anatomy.
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