Observer-reported outcome measures showed that patients ’ driving abilities often are impaired when wearing an immobilizing cast above or below the elbow or a shoulder sling on their dominant arm .
Conclusions The available evidence provides a best-case scenario for when patients can return to driving .
Survey data suggest that patients are returning to driving before observer-reported outcome measures have normalized , indicating that physicians should tell patients to wait longer before driving .
Background Patients often ask their doctors when they can safely return to driving after orthopaedic injuries and procedures , but the data regarding this topic are diverse and sometimes conflicting .
Some studies provide observer-reported outcome measures , such as brake response time or simulators , to estimate when patients can safely resume driving after surgery , and patient survey data describing when patients report a return to driving , but they do not all agree .
We performed a systematic review and quality appraisal for available data regarding when patients are safe to resume driving after common orthopaedic surgeries and injuries affecting the ability to drive .
Questions / purpose sBased on the available evidence , we sought to determine when patients can safely return to driving after ( 1 ) lower extremity orthopaedic surgery and injuries ; ( 2 ) upper extremity orthopaedic surgery and injuries ; and ( 3 ) spine surgery .
Does the brake response time of the right leg change after left total knee arthroplasty? A prospective study.
Patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty often ask when they can safely resume car driving . There is little evidence available on which physicians can rely when advising patients on this issue . In a prospect i ve study we assessed the brake response time of 24 patients admitted to the clinic for left total knee arthroplasty preoperatively and then 10 days after surgery . On each measurement day the patients performed two tasks , a simple and a complex brake response time task in a car simulator . Ten days after left TKA the brake response time for the simple task had decreased by 3.6 % ( p=0.24 ) , the reaction time by 3.1 % ( p=0.34 ) and the movement time by 6.6 % ( p=0.07 ) . However , the performance improvement was not statistically significant . Task complexity increased brake response time at both time points . A 5.8 % increase was significant ( p=0.01 ) at 10 days after surgery . Based on our results , we suggest that patients who have undergone left total knee arthroplasty may resume car driving 10 days after surgery as long as they drive a car with automatic transmission
Observer-reported outcome measures showed that patients ’ driving abilities often are impaired when wearing an immobilizing cast above or below the elbow or a shoulder sling on their dominant arm .
Conclusions The available evidence provides a best-case scenario for when patients can return to driving .
Survey data suggest that patients are returning to driving before observer-reported outcome measures have normalized , indicating that physicians should tell patients to wait longer before driving .
Background Patients often ask their doctors when they can safely return to driving after orthopaedic injuries and procedures , but the data regarding this topic are diverse and sometimes conflicting .
Some studies provide observer-reported outcome measures , such as brake response time or simulators , to estimate when patients can safely resume driving after surgery , and patient survey data describing when patients report a return to driving , but they do not all agree .
We performed a systematic review and quality appraisal for available data regarding when patients are safe to resume driving after common orthopaedic surgeries and injuries affecting the ability to drive .
Questions / purpose sBased on the available evidence , we sought to determine when patients can safely return to driving after ( 1 ) lower extremity orthopaedic surgery and injuries ; ( 2 ) upper extremity orthopaedic surgery and injuries ; and ( 3 ) spine surgery .