Analysis of the occurrence conditions of calcaneus fracture in weight drop impact experiments - consideration of calcaneus fracture suffered by front seat occupants in car frontal collisions

摘要

One of the typical injuries to front-seat occupants involved in frontal car collisions, is the heel/calcaneus fracture. This injury results from the impact of the floor and intrusion of the footwall region in an early phase of the crash. Since heel injuries require long term treatment, countermeasures should be taken using information on injury mechanisms and injury criteria. We carried out foot sole impact tests on human subjects to examine the characteristics of calcaneus fractures using a weight drop test apparatus. It was shown by the test results that a typical calcaneus fracture results from impacts with a hard surface. We also observed that the fractures themselves happened within a very short period of time when an impact with 8～10 kN of force was applied.