The biomechanics of spinal injuries.

This manuscript is directed to review the epidemiology of spinal trauma, the anatomy of the vertebral column, spinal ligaments, muscles, motion of the spine and spinal cord. Because little information is available on the material properties of ligaments and the components of the vertebral column, this material is also included. A review of the experimental spinal cord injury models is given because of the concerted interest in this area today. Laboratory studies conducted in animals to develop typical spinal cord injury models and the corresponding alterations in perfusion and metabolic pathways, forces, and changes in the evoked potentials are discussed. Light and electron microscopy evaluations of the spinal cord are also treated. Clinical classifications of spinal injuries, pathology, and typical examples of upper cervical injuries, atlanto-axial disc locations and fractures, lower cervical spine injuries, injuries to thoracolumbar column with mathematical models, and typical force levels are given. The final section, investigation examples, provides a review of typical spinal injuries associated with sports injuries, motorcycle helmets, industrial helmets, and swimming pools investigated in our laboratories and by those of others. With lumped parameter mathematical model which predicts cervical compression, force, the various energies encountered in a one-dimensional impact is given. Typical examples of studies conducted on football helmets, motorcycle helmets, and industrial helmets are also included. Because of the importance of crash dummies used in the analysis of spinal injuries, a separate appendix is included, as well as an appendix reviewing motorcycle standards which are often dispersed throughout the literature. Considerable emphasis is placed upon actual experimental values of force and energy measured in the living animal and the most recent studies conducted in the fresh human cadaver to delineate the biomechanical mechanisms of spinal injury.