Review of Literature Investigating Head-Supported Mass and Acute Neck Injury Risk
Abstract
Military helmet systems have become increasingly complex over the years due to night vision goggles (NVGs), communication devices, and other equipment needed by the Warfighter. The increased mass has led to neck injuries not previously seen by Soldiers in operational environments. The mathematically-derived U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory (USAARL) Head-Supported Mass (HSM) Curves, based on the aviation environment, serve as well-established acute neck injury guidelines for HSM for the U.S. Army (McEntire and Shanahan, 1997). The curve representing acute injury risk is based on the vertical center of mass (CM) offset of HSM configurations and correlates to a high vertical acceleration exposure. No acute neck injury guidelines for HSM exist for exposures with primarily longitudinal loading or lateral loading. Since the development of the USAARL HSM Acute Injury Curve, several new neck injury criteria (without HSM-effects) have been proposed for both the upper neck and the lower neck; however, there have been no updates to HSM guidelines. The goal of this report is to summarize the findings of research investigating acute injury risk with HSM since 1997 (including the research that is used for the USAARL Acute Injury Curves) and determine gaps in research that are needed in order to create more informative U.S. Army HSM acute injury risk guidelines.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 05, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1149931
Entities
People
- Blake A. Johnson
- Danielle Rhodes
- Ray W. Daniel
- Tyler F. Rooks
- Valeta C. Chancey
Organizations
- United States Army Aeromedical Research Lab