Citation

Laksari K, Wu LC, Kurt M, Kuo C, Camarillo DC. J. R. Soc. Interface 2015; 12(108): e331.

Affiliation

Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA dcamarillo@stanford.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Royal Society)

DOI

10.1098/rsif.2015.0331

PMID

26063824

Abstract

Although safety standards have reduced fatal head trauma due to single severe head impacts, mild trauma from repeated head exposures may carry risks of long-term chronic changes in the brain's function and structure. To study the physical sensitivities of the brain to mild head impacts, we developed the first dynamic model of the skull-brain based on in vivo MRI data. We showed that the motion of the brain can be described by a rigid-body with constrained kinematics. We further demonstrated that skull-brain dynamics can be approximated by an under-damped system with a low-frequency resonance at around 15 Hz. Furthermore, from our previous field measurements, we found that head motions in a variety of activities, including contact sports, show a primary frequency of less than 20 Hz. This implies that typical head exposures may drive the brain dangerously close to its mechanical resonance and lead to amplified brain-skull relative motions. Our results suggest a possible cause for mild brain trauma, which could occur due to repetitive low-acceleration head oscillations in a variety of recreational and occupational activities.

Language: en