ABOUT

Dr. Hallgren received a PHD in Electrical Engineering and a PHD in Biomedical Engineering from Iowa State University in 1974. His research is focused upon investigating the effects of whiplash-type injuries upon the rectus capitis posterior minor (RCPm) muscles. In spite of extensive research over a period of 20 years, fatty infiltration (FI) of RCPm muscles is the only pathology that has been shown to be consistently associated with patients who have chronic, post-traumatic head and neck pain resulting from whiplash-type injuries involving motor vehicle accidents. Since damage to a muscle is known to heal within six months following injury, some researchers have dismissed muscle trauma as a cause of the FI.

Tearing of a musculotendinous junction (MT) junction is a painful injury that can result from the sudden and forceful lengthening of a muscle during an eccentric contraction such as occurs in a whiplash-type accident. When a tendon is torn, the muscle shortens and, if the tear is not repaired, irreversible FI occurs within the muscle. Tendon tears have never been considered as either the cause of FI or as a potential source of the chronic, post-traumatic head and neck pain that can result from whiplash-type injuries. The ability to rapidly identify and repair a torn tendon could significantly improve the quality of life of individuals who have sustained a vehicle related traumatic head injury and could decrease the financial burden currently placed upon the health care system for treatment of these individuals. Investigation of this new paradigm has the potential to unveil the currently unknown cause of post traumatic head and neck pain associated with some whiplash-type injuries.