The application of brain tissue deformation values in assessing the safety performance of ice hockey helmets

This research was undertaken to examine a new method for assessing the performance of ice hockey helmets. It has been proposed that the current centric impact standards for ice hockey helmets, measuring peak linear acceleration, have effectively eliminated traumatic head injuries in the sport, but that angular acceleration and brain tissue deformation metrics are more sensitive to the conditions associated with concussive injuries, which continue to be a common injury. Ice hockey helmets were impacted using both centric and non-centric impact protocols at 7.5 m/s using a linear impactor. Dynamic impact responses and brain tissue deformations from the helmeted centric and non-centric head form impacts were assessed with respect to proposed concussive injury thresholds from the literature. The results of the helmet impacts showed that the method used was sensitive enough to distinguish differences in performance between helmet models. The results have shown that peak linear acceleration yielded low magnitudes of response to an impact, but peak angular acceleration and brain deformation metrics consistently reported higher magnitudes, reflecting a high risk for incurring a mild traumatic brain injury.

[1]  Thomas A. Gennarelli,et al.  Pathophysiologic Responses to Rotational and Translational Accelerations of the Head , 1972 .

[2]  A. Ommaya,et al.  Cerebral concussion and traumatic unconsciousness. Correlation of experimental and clinical observations of blunt head injuries. , 1974, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[3]  E Y Chao,et al.  Injury potential in modern ice hockey , 1978, The American journal of sports medicine.

[4]  A. King,et al.  Measurement of Angular Acceleration of a Rigid Body Using Linear Accelerometers , 1975 .

[5]  S. Kleiven.  Predictors for traumatic brain injuries evaluated through accident reconstructions. , 2007, Stapp car crash journal.

[6]  Thomas Blaine Hoshizaki,et al.  Impact Attenuation Characteristics of Thin Walled Collapsible Air Chambers for Use in Protective Helmets , 2009 .

[7]  M A Forero Rueda,et al.  Finite element modelling of equestrian helmet impacts exposes the need to address rotational kinematics in future helmet designs , 2011, Computer methods in biomechanics and biomedical engineering.

[8]  Robert C Cantu,et al.  Brain Injury-related Fatalities in American Football, 1945–1999 , 2003, Neurosurgery.

[9]  Narayan Yoganandan,et al.  Influence of angular acceleration-deceleration pulse shapes on regional brain strains. , 2008, Journal of biomechanics.

[10]  R A Wennberg,et al.  National Hockey League Reported Concussions, 1986-87 to 2001-02 , 2003, Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences / Journal Canadien des Sciences Neurologiques.

[11]  A. Nahum,et al.  Intracranial Pressure Dynamics During Head Impact , 1977 .

[12]  J. Adams,et al.  Diffuse axonal injury and traumatic coma in the primate , 1982, Annals of neurology.

[13]  D C Viano,et al.  Simulation of acute subdural hematoma and diffuse axonal injury in coronal head impact. , 2001, Journal of biomechanics.

[14]  A. King,et al.  A NEW MODEL COMPARING IMPACT RESPONSES OF THE HOMOGENEOUS AND INHOMOGENEOUS HUMAN BRAIN , 1995 .

[15]  King H. Yang,et al.  Investigation of Head Injury Mechanisms Using Neutral Density Technology and High-Speed Biplanar X-ray. , 2001, Stapp car crash journal.

[16]  King H. Yang,et al.  A proposed injury threshold for mild traumatic brain injury. , 2004, Journal of biomechanical engineering.

[17]  S. Kleiven,et al.  Consequences of head size following trauma to the human head. , 2002, Journal of biomechanics.

[18]  Rémy Willinger,et al.  Human head tolerance limits to specific injury mechanisms , 2003 .

[19]  J Scott Delaney,et al.  Mechanisms of Injury for Concussions in University Football, Ice Hockey, and Soccer: A Pilot Study , 2006, Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine.

[20]  Michael D. Gilchrist,et al.  Examination of the relationship between peak linear and angular accelerations to brain deformation metrics in hockey helmet impacts , 2013, Computer methods in biomechanics and biomedical engineering.

[21]  Susan S. Margulies,et al.  FINITE ELEMENT MODELING APPROACHES FOR PREDICTING INJURY IN AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF SEVERE DIFFUSE AXONAL INJURY , 1998 .

[22]  Albert I. King,et al.  Literature review of head injury biomechanics , 1994 .

[23]  Michael Gaetz,et al.  Concussions in hockey: there is cause for concern. , 1999 .

[24]  David F. Meaney,et al.  IN VIVO THRESHOLDS FOR MECHANICAL INJURY TO THE BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER , 1997 .

[25]  A. Holbourn.  MECHANICS OF HEAD INJURIES , 1943 .

[26]  King H. Yang,et al.  Is head injury caused by linear or angular acceleration , 2003 .

[27]  Thomas Blaine Hoshizaki,et al.  The effects of impact management materials in ice hockey helmets on head injury criteria , 2009 .

[28]  Claude Tarriere,et al.  Development of a F.E.M. of the human head according to a specific test protocol , 1992 .

[29]  J Scott Delaney,et al.  Mechanisms of Injury for Concussions in University Football, Ice Hockey, and Soccer , 2014, Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine.

[30]  D. Montgomery,et al.  Physiological profile of professional hockey players -- a longitudinal comparison. , 2006, Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme.

[31]  N. R. Coulson,et al.  Translational and Rotational Accelerations Generated during Reconstructed Ice Hockey Impacts on a Hybrid III Head Form , 2009 .

[32]  Susan Goodwin Gerberich,et al.  An epidemiological study of high school ice hockey injuries , 1987, Child's Nervous System.

[33]  T. J. Horgan,et al.  Influence of FE model variability in predicting brain motion and intracranial pressure changes in head impact simulations , 2004 .

[34]  R. Willinger,et al.  Modal and temporal analysis of head mathematical models. , 1995, Journal of neurotrauma.

[35]  Albert I. King,et al.  Finite element modeling of direct head impact , 1993 .

[36]  P Löwenhielm.  Mathematical simulation of gliding contusions. , 1975, Journal of biomechanics.

[37]  Marshall Kendall,et al.  Dynamic impact response characteristics of a helmeted Hybrid III headform using a centric and non-centric impact protocol , 2012 .

[38]  Carolyn A Emery,et al.  Injury Rates, Risk Factors, and Mechanisms of Injury in Minor Hockey , 2006, The American journal of sports medicine.

[39]  Michael D. Gilchrist,et al.  Poster Session II, July 14th 2010 — Abstracts: Evaluation of American football helmet performance using finite element modelling , 2010 .

[40]  T Blaine Hoshizaki,et al.  The Science and Design of Head Protection in Sport , 2004, Neurosurgery.

[41]  L Zhang,et al.  Recent advances in brain injury research: a new human head model development and validation. , 2001, Stapp car crash journal.

[42]  Michael D. Gilchrist,et al.  The creation of three-dimensional finite element models for simulating head impact biomechanics , 2003 .

[43]  Stephen Lyman,et al.  American Collegiate Men's Ice Hockey , 2005, The American journal of sports medicine.