Biomechanics of head injury

The enormous incidence of closed head injury has resulted in employing the field of biomechanics as a means of predicting the site of a lesion, discovering, and understanding the forces acting during cranial impact. This paper indicates that the possibilities associated with trauma-induced lesions include: the establishment of large pressure gradients associated with damage resulting from absolute motion of the brain and its displacement relative to the skull; flexion-extension of the upper cervical cord; skull deformation and/or rotational acceleration. Analytical representations, inanimate and cadaver models and, experimental paradigms are presented and their behavioral implications discussed.