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Biomechanical Response Targets of Adult Human Ribs in Frontal Impacts

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Abstract

Thorax injuries mainly due to rib fractures have been associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality in motor vehicle crashes. Thoracic biomechanics has been studied extensively, but there are no robust biomechanical response targets for ribs that consider age, sex, body size, and vulnerability factors. The objective of this study was to generate biomechanical targets for human rib response with respect to age, sex, and body size. Two-hundred sixty-one ribs from 171 individuals were dynamically loaded to failure in anterior–posterior bending. Force and displacement at the time of fracture in young adults were greater than in older adults (p < 0.0001). Sex differences were found in those over 40 years old (p < 0.0001). Fracture force from 5th percentile female ribs was lower than 50th and 95th male (p < 0.005). Vulnerable ribs were successfully identified by examining the percentile of both force and displacement at the time of fracture in the proposed samples. The biomechanical targets generated in this study will have useful applications to computational thorax and rib models to aid in injury prevention measures.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to the anatomical tissue donors; their generous gifts made this research possible. We are thankful to all of the students and staff of the Injury Biomechanics Research Center, especially John Bolte IV, Michelle Murach, Michelle Schafman, Arrianna Willis, Akshara Sreedhar, and Angela Harden. We are also grateful to Rod Herriott, Brian Suntay, and Colton Thomas from the Transportation Research Center, Inc.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Injury Biomechanics Research Center, The Ohio State University, 453 West 10th Ave, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Yun-Seok Kang, Hyun Jung Kwon & Amanda M. Agnew

  2. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Vehicle Research and Test Center, East Liberty, OH, USA

    Jason Stammen & Kevin Moorhouse

Authors
  1. Yun-Seok Kang
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  2. Hyun Jung Kwon
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  3. Jason Stammen
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  4. Kevin Moorhouse
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  5. Amanda M. Agnew
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Correspondence to Yun-Seok Kang.

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Associate Editor Thurmon E. Lockhart oversaw the review of this article.

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Kang, YS., Kwon, H.J., Stammen, J. et al. Biomechanical Response Targets of Adult Human Ribs in Frontal Impacts. Ann Biomed Eng 49, 900–911 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-020-02613-x

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