A comparison of finite element model-predicted brainstem strains between injurious and non-injurious laboratory reconstructed football impacts

Studies of concussive events have shown that the response of the brain during an impact may not be the most reliable predictor of concussion, since the injury may be more closely related to the forces affecting the brainstem. A laboratory crash test protocol was developed to simulate player-to-player collisions in contact sports using crash test dummies and the impact forces on the dummy head were calculated. This study will assess the response of the brainstem during concussive events using information from these reconstructed football collisions as input to a computer model of the human head and neck. The computer simulations will provide important information to further study the concussion injury mechanism. In the future, this methodology will be used to analyze collegiate and youth impacts in sports, as well as to assess the performance of new helmets.

Faculty Supervisor:

Nadia Azar

Student:

Erik Lovis

Partner:

McCarthy Engineering Inc

Discipline:

Kinesiology

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

Program: