Effect of sitting posture on pelvic injury risk under vertical loading.

Abstract

Underbody blast (UBB) attacks on military vehicles can result in severe pelvic injuries to the vehicle occupants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical responses of the pelvis to UBB-like vertical loading in different seated postures. High-rate axial loading were performed on six defleshed human cadaveric pelves, whilst a three-dimensional finite element model of a human pelvis was created and used to simulate the high-rate loading with the model responses validated against experimental measurements. Three pelvic orientation corresponding to normal, upright, and relaxed seated postures, along with three different sacral slope angles representing the range of relative pelvis..