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The compressive stiffness of human pediatric heads.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Loyd, AM; Nightingale, RW; Luck, JF; Song, Y; Fronheiser, L; Cutcliffe, H; Myers, BS; Dale Bass, CR
Published in: Journal of biomechanics
November 2015

Head injury is a persistent and costly problem for both children and adults. Globally, approximately 10 million people are hospitalized each year for head injuries. Knowing the structural properties of the head is important for modeling the response of the head in impact, and for providing insights into mechanisms of head injury. Hence, the goal of this study was to measure the sub-injurious structural stiffness of whole pediatric heads. 12 cadaveric pediatric (20-week-gestation to 16 years old) heads were tested in a battery of viscoelastic compression tests. The heads were compressed in both the lateral and anterior-posterior directions to 5% of gauge length at normalized deformation rates of 0.0005/s, 0.01/s, 0.1/s, and 0.3/s. Because of the non-linear nature of the response, linear regression models were used to calculate toe region (<2.5%) and elastic region (>2.5%) stiffness separately so that meaningful comparisons could be made across rate, age, and direction. The results showed that age was the dominant factor in predicting the structural stiffness of the human head. A large and statistically significant increase in the stiffness of both the toe region and the elastic region was observed with increasing age (p<0.0001), but no significant difference was seen across direction or normalized deformation rate. The stiffness of the elastic region increased from as low as 5 N/mm in the neonate to >4500 N/mm in the 16 year old. The changes in stiffness with age may be attributed to the disappearance of soft sutures and the thickening of skull bones with age.

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Published In

Journal of biomechanics

DOI

EISSN

1873-2380

ISSN

0021-9290

Publication Date

November 2015

Volume

48

Issue

14

Start / End Page

3766 / 3775

Related Subject Headings

  • Skull
  • Male
  • Linear Models
  • Infant
  • Humans
  • Head
  • Female
  • Craniocerebral Trauma
  • Compressive Strength
  • Child, Preschool
 

Citation

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Loyd, A. M., Nightingale, R. W., Luck, J. F., Song, Y., Fronheiser, L., Cutcliffe, H., … Dale Bass, C. R. (2015). The compressive stiffness of human pediatric heads. Journal of Biomechanics, 48(14), 3766–3775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2015.08.024
Loyd, Andre Matthew, Roger W. Nightingale, Jason F. Luck, Yin Song, Lucy Fronheiser, Hattie Cutcliffe, Barry S. Myers, and Cameron R. Dale Bass. “The compressive stiffness of human pediatric heads.Journal of Biomechanics 48, no. 14 (November 2015): 3766–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2015.08.024.
Loyd AM, Nightingale RW, Luck JF, Song Y, Fronheiser L, Cutcliffe H, et al. The compressive stiffness of human pediatric heads. Journal of biomechanics. 2015 Nov;48(14):3766–75.
Loyd, Andre Matthew, et al. “The compressive stiffness of human pediatric heads.Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 48, no. 14, Nov. 2015, pp. 3766–75. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2015.08.024.
Loyd AM, Nightingale RW, Luck JF, Song Y, Fronheiser L, Cutcliffe H, Myers BS, Dale Bass CR. The compressive stiffness of human pediatric heads. Journal of biomechanics. 2015 Nov;48(14):3766–3775.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of biomechanics

DOI

EISSN

1873-2380

ISSN

0021-9290

Publication Date

November 2015

Volume

48

Issue

14

Start / End Page

3766 / 3775

Related Subject Headings

  • Skull
  • Male
  • Linear Models
  • Infant
  • Humans
  • Head
  • Female
  • Craniocerebral Trauma
  • Compressive Strength
  • Child, Preschool