Recently, whiplash injuries suffered by rear-end impacts of vehicles have become serious problems. In this study, the finite element model of human cervical spine, including vertebrae, intervertebral discs, ligaments, and cartilages, has been developed and incorporated into Hybrid III dummy model. Also, the whiplash injury mechanism and the correlation of measurable values with dummies have been investigated. The behavior of this finite element model was simulated in 18 cases with the rear-end impact velocity of about 12.5 km/h, varying three parameters of the anteroposterior position, energy absorption ratio, and spring force property of the head restraint. The results indicate that 1) the shear stress along the anteroposterior axis is most correlated with disc injuries, that 2) the measurable values correlate the shear stress, and that 3) the head restraint position has the greatest effect on this shear stress of the three parameters.
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