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Unlike other modes of loading, the tolerance of the human neck in tension depends heavily on the load bearing capabilities of the muscles of the neck. Because of limitations in animal models, human cadaver, and volunteer studies, computational modeling of the cervical spine is the best way to understand the influence of muscle on whole neck tolerance to tension. Muscle forces are a function of the muscle's geometry, constitutive properties, and state of activation. To generate biofidelic responses for muscle, we obtained accurate three-dimensional muscle geometry for 23 pairs of cervical muscles from a combination of human cadaver dissection and 50th percentile male human volunteer magnetic resonance imaging and incorporated those muscles into a computational model of the ligamentous spine that has been previously validated against human cadaver studies.

This study evaluated the biofidelity of both the Hybrid III and the THOR-NT anthropomorphic test device (ATD) necks in quasistatic tension-bending and pure-bending by comparing the responses of both the ATDs with results from validated computational models of the living human neck. This model was developed using post-mortem human surrogate (PMHS) osteoligamentous response corridors with effective musculature added (Chancey, 2005). Each ATD was tested using a variety of end-conditions to create the tension-bending loads. The results were compared using absolute difference, RMS difference, and normalized difference metrics. The THOR-NT was tested both with and without muscle cables. The THOR-NT was also tested with and without the central safety cable to test the effect of the cable on the behavior of the ATD. The Hybrid III was stiffer than the model for all tension-bending end conditions.