A Neck Injury Assessment Tool

The overall objective of the proposed project is to develop new injury criteria, methodology, and a software tool to assess the risk of neck injury from loads sustained while wearing head supported mass (HSM). In this Phase I, we will develop an easy-to-use software which utilizes a detailed neck musculoskeletal model (scalable to the full range of male and female anthropometries) for the study of HSM loading on muscle-tendons, ligaments, cervical spines and disks and consequently prediction of injury severity and probability (in accordance to AR-40-10). We will also develop new injury criteria suited for long-exposure scenarios and select use cases to verify model prediction. Injury prediction in Phase I will focus on use cases of maintaining stationary head/neck posture under HSM of different specification (such as mass, center of gravity, accessories). In the Phase II, we will focus on improving the integrated software tool and injury prediction for dynamic activities (marching, running, jumping, diving to prone, etc.). The final developed software will be utilized by military R & D engineers and acquisition professionals to characterize the hazards endemic to the ground combat environment and evaluate head support products and recommend less hazardous designs and usage scenarios.