Inducing Head Motion with a Novel Helmet during Head-First Impact Can Mitigate Neck Injury Metrics: An Experimental Proof- of-Concept Investigation using Mechanical Surrogates

There is a need for cervical spine injury prevention from head-first impacts in many sports and in various transportation contexts. We present an experimental helmet prototype that induces anterior or posterior head motion in a head-first impact as a mitigation strategy. Instrumented mechanical surrogates for the human neck, head, and helmet were tested on a drop tower. Peak lower-neck axial force and moment were used as injury metrics. A factorial experiment examining 3 escapes, 3 platform angles, and 2 platform stiffnesses was performed. The appropriate head-motion “escape” reduced mean peak axial force by up to 56% and moment by up to 72% compared to no-escape.