Citation

Mills NJ. J. Trauma 2008; 65(2): 479-481.

Affiliation

Department of Metallurgy and Materials, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom. n.j.mills@bham.ac.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/TA.0b013e31817de440

PMID

18695486

Abstract

The side of the head is vulnerable to trauma in bicycle injuries. Depreitere et al., demonstrated contact between a flat-faced pendulum, and the side of cadaver heads, when bicycle helmets was worn. Computer design methods were used to interpret these experiments, showing that typical helmets safely absorbed 75% of the impact kinetic energy before pendulum-to-head contact occurred. Furthermore, in typical oblique impacts with the road, two factors improve the head protection. The tangential velocity component slightly improves the helmet performance, whereas prior shoulder impact on the road decreases the head impact velocity. It is concluded that current helmets provide adequate protection for typical lateral head impacts.

Language: en