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The objective of the study was to investigate the biomechanical response of the intact cranium. Unembalmed human cadavers were used in the study. The specimens were transected at the base of the skull leaving the intracranial contents intact; x-ray and computed tomography (CT) scans were obtained. They were fixed in a specially designed frame at the auditory meatus level and placed on the platform of an electrohydraulic testing device via a six-axis load cell. Following radiography, quasistatic loading to failure was applied to one of the following sites: frontal, vertex, parietal, temporal, or occipital. Retroreflective targets were placed in two mutually orthogonal planes to record the localized temporal kinematics. Applied load and piston displacement, and the output generalized force (and moment) histories were recorded using a modular digital data acquisition system. After the test, x-ray and CT images were obtained, and defleshing was done.

Head injury is a serious threat to lives of people working around farm machinery. The consequence of head injuries are costly, paralytic, and often fatal. Clinical and biomechanical data on head injuries are reviewed and their application in the analysis of head injury risk associated with farm tractor discussed. A significant proportion of tractor-related injuries and deaths to adults, as well as children, is due directly or indirectly to head injury. An improved injury reporting program and biomechanical studies of human response to tractor rollover, runover, and falls, are needed to understand mechanisms of the associated head injury.

An acceleration sled carrying living human subjects was used to measure the dynamic response of the head and neck to —G x impact acceleration. Seated volunteers with complete pelvic and upper torso restraint were subjected to increasing impact accelerations beginning at 2.7 g and increasing in 1 g increments. The volunteers were selected to encompass the 5th to 95th percentile distribution of sitting height according to a selected reference. Precision inertial transducers were used to determine the linear and angular acceleration of the head and the first thoracic vertebra. The inertial system consisted of a biaxial accelerometer and rate gyroscope on a bite-plate, a biaxial acceierometer over the bregma, and a biaxial acceierometer and rate gyroscope over the spinous process of the first thoracic vertebra. The transducers on the bite-plate and over the bregma were rigidly connected to one another.