The high incidence of head injuries resulting from transportation syst
em crashes, sports, military activities, falls, assaults, etc. contrib
utes to a preponderance of head injury biomechanics research. A wealth
of publications result, addressing phenomenological and mechanistic i
ssues associated with head response to mechanical impact. This literat
ure survey provides an assessment of hypothesized brain injury mechani
sms, brain injury criteria, mathematical models of head injury and ava
ilable techniques for measuring head kinematics and brain tissue defor
mations associated with exposure to dynamic loads.