INTRODUCTION: The effects of skiing helmets have been studied previously. However, to our knowledge no studies have investigated forces and muscular work acting on a skier's neck during alpine skiing. The main purpose with this study was to develop a method to investigate accelerations of the head and manubrium sterni (MS) during alpine skiing, in order to simulate muscular forces on the neck and cervical spine METHOD: Seven experienced male skiers (weight; 70.5-89.5kg, age; 25-36 yrs) performed three trials down a groomed piste. Acceleration data of the head and MS was collected at 50 Hz using 4 wireless 30 accelerometers (IMEGO AB, Gothenburg, Sweden; range ±3G, weight 20 g). Ground reaction forces were recorded at 100 Hz using a mobile insole system (Novel GmbH. Munich, Germany) placed inside the ski-boots. Musculoskeletal simulations were performed with AnyBody Software (AnyBody Technology A/S, Aalborg, Denmark). One simulation was performed during 2.75 s of skiing with high and varying accelerations of the head and MS. RESULTS: Kinematic data is presented in Table 1. Acceleration of the head was clearly affected by turning and the pattern of ground reaction forces. Simulated maximal muscle force was 72.7 N and located in the lumped hyoids on the left side. The highest activation level was modeled in m. semispinalis cervicis on the left side with 65% activation. Kinematic data corresponds with other studies and have successfully been used in inverse dynamics simulations of muscular forces. However, the effects on the cervical spine and the musculature of the neck are likely to be larger when using heavier helmets during skiing. Hence, further research in this field is required. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrates the functionality of a cervical spine model in sports applications and enables a more scientific approach in product development and when optimizing helmets and different types of sports equipment. REFERENCES: van der Horst, M.J., Human head neck response in frontal, lateral and rear end impact loading : modelling and validation. PhD Thesis 2002, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven: Eindhoven p 1-230. Skalound. J.L., P. Synergy of CP-DGPS. Accetemmetry and Magnetic Sensors for Precise Trajectography n Ski Racing. in ION GPS/GNSS. 2003: Portland ORE USA
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