TENSILE MECHANICS OF THE DEVELOPING CERVICAL SPINE

The objective of this study is to examine the effect of spinal development (developmental age) on the tensile mechanics of the cervical spine. In order to document mechanical response, a total of 68 isolated functional spinal units were subjected to tensile loading. Because of limited availability of human tissues in the pediatric age range, cadaveric baboon specimens ranging in from 2 to 26 human-equivalent years were used. Statistically, significant correlation was found between developmental age and both tensile stiffness and ultimate failure load. Furthermore, differences in these properties were observed as a function of spinal level. In addition to providing age-related data for the developing spine, findings of the study suggest that reasonable scaling relationships exist between the child and adult spine. These relationships provide a basis for scaling adult properties to the child, which could possibly abet the development of pediatric neck injury tolerance.