The objective of the present study was to analyze the effect of different load directions and durations following impact using a detailed finite element model of the human head. It was found that the influence of impact direction had a substantial effect on the intracranial response. When evaluating the global kinematic injury measures for the rotational pulses, the change in angular velocity corresponded best with the intracranial strains found in the FE model. For the translational impulse, on the other hand, the HIC and the HIP showed the best correlation with the strain levels found in the model.