New compendium on head injury biomechanics

SAE International offers a 3-volume set Head Injury Biomechanics, edited by Jeffrey A. Pike, which is designed to aid those studying head injury from a broad range of causes, including transportation, falls, sports, personal violence, and blast-related.

Nearly 50,000 Americans die from brain injuries annually, with approximately half of all traumatic brain Injuries (TBI) being transportation-related. TBI is a critical and ever-evolving safety topic, with equally important components of injury prevention, consequences, and treatment.

This compendium, available as individual volumes or as a set, includes three volumes: Skull Fracture, Brain Injury, and Mitigation. Each volume includes a new chapter that ties together the various aspects of anatomy, injury, and injury mechanisms that set the stage for the technical papers that follow, which Pike selected from published literature. There is also a common bibliography of more than 250 resources, as well as a table that organizes them by topic; e.g., transportation mode or sport.

The focus of each volume is as follows: Volume 1, Skull Fracture, focuses on head impact injuries and features 13 technical papers. These publications are primarily related to head impact and the resulting injury to the outside of the head--the skin, the bones of the skull, and sensory organs.

Volume 2, The Brain, features 13 technical papers that are primarily related to injuries to the brain, its surrounding membranes, and its blood supply.

Volume 3, Mitigation, covers the application of protective strategies to various injury scenarios, such as passenger vehicles, sports, and blast injuries, or to a particular demographic group, such as children or seniors. This volume features 14 technical papers.

Jeffrey A. Pike is president, Biomechanics Consulting, Inc., which provides research, education, and forensic biomechanics consulting services. He has worked at Ford Motor Company and taught at Wayne State's Biomedical Engineering Department. He consults to various agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control, National Academy of Sciences, NHTSA, and state and local governments. His current consulting project involves development of restraint systems for providers of in-ambulance care.