Wallets and Lower Back Pain....A Visual Explanation

Sir Isaac Newton Teaches a Lesson About Car Accident Injuries

Occupant Injuries in Frontal Car Accident

This interesting paper from the DC proceedings illustrates something that Isaac Newton taught us a long time ago.  Force = Mass x Acceleration.  The larger someone weighs, the more force is potentially generated in an auto crash.  Sometimes, an argument can be made regarding "more padding" but generally the safety cages of most cars seem to perform better when restraints (seat belts) are in contact with bony areas of the body.  

Patients of All Sizes who have experienced a Car Accident Treated With Optimum Care at Greenbelt Chiropractic Rehab

Here at Greenbelt Rehab, patients of all shapes and sizes receive the highest quality care following motor vehicle collisions.  As a specialist with regards to whiplash injuries, I am committed to implementing the most recent, evidence based therapies to get my patients better as quick as possible.

Augenstein J, Digges K, Bahouth G, Cui X, Higushi K, Hiromasa T, St. Lawrence S: Occupant injuries in frontal crashes by age, weight and BMI. 23rd Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) Conference Proceedings, Washington, DC, June 13-16, 2011.

Abstract - Car Accident Injuries 

The paper used NASS/CDS to examine the distribution of belted front seat occupants exposed to frontal crashes and the resulting injured at the MAIS 3+ severity level. The data was subdivided by occupant weight, BMI, and age. Further subdivisions by gender and crash severity were included. The age effect was most pronounced. Injury risk for all ages increases with delta-V. However, exposure at higher speeds is lower for occupants over 35 years old than for the younger population.


Occupants under 35 experience the highest number of injuries in higher speed crashes while injuries to older occupants are more uniformly distributed. About 17% of the occupants with MAIS 3+ injuries were 55 and older and were also in low or moderate severity crashes. The increasing weight and BMI of the US population was also evident in the data. Occupants weighing more than 205 lbs. in higher severity frontal crashes accounted for about 7% of the of the belted front seat occupants with MAIS 3+ injuries. Another 9.5% weighed between 175 and 205 lbs.

-Dr. Louis S. Crivelli II

 Chiropractor

 Greenbelt, MD

This is a GREAT comic.