Original ResearchEffect of Variable Lower Extremity Immobilization Devices on Emergency Brake Response Driving Outcomes
Section snippets
Patients and Methods
With approval from our institutional review board (Temple University; protocol no. 23148), the braking performances of participants were evaluated with a computerized driving simulator (Stationary Simple Reaction Timer; Vericom Computers, Inc., Rogers, MN). This device has previously been used to evaluate the brake response times in the setting of lower extremity impairment, and it measures to a precision of 0.01 second (9). The simulator consists of a laptop computer, steering wheel, and
Results
The data were collected from 25 participants (11 males), with a mean age ± standard deviation of 25.9 ± 3.2 years (range 22 to 37). The mean ± standard deviation brake response time of the participants in their regular shoe gear (n = 200 total braking trials) was 0.575 ± 0.063 second (range 0.45 to 0.74). Five of these 200 trials (2.5%) were defined as “abnormally delayed,” and 4 (2.0%) were defined as “inaccurate.” The mean ± standard deviation brake response time of the participants in the
Discussion
The results of the present investigation provide physicians working with the lower extremity with a better understanding on how to assess the risk and appropriately advise their patients who have been prescribed lower extremity immobilization devices with respect to the safe operation of an automobile.
Compared with their regular shoe gear, the participants demonstrated significantly slower mean brake response times and more frequent “abnormally delayed” brake responses wearing both the surgical
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Cited by (7)
Patient Safety: Driving After Foot and Ankle Surgery
2018, Orthopedic Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :Ultimately, they recommended that no patient should be allowed to drive when immobilized in a short leg cast, CAM boot, or with a left-foot driving adaptor.29 A study by Sansosti and colleagues30 assessed the effect of lower extremity immobilization on emergency braking response in 25 healthy participants. This was a young group of patients (25 ± 3.2 years) who were evaluated with different forms of immobilization to include a regular shoe, surgical shoe, or walking boot.
Reaction Time and Brake Pedal Depression Following Arthroscopic Hip Surgery: A Prospective Case-Control Study
2018, Arthroscopy - Journal of Arthroscopic and Related SurgeryCitation Excerpt :National organizations outside the United States have variably estimated a normal BRT cutoff of between 700 and 1,500 msec.27 This variability likely explains divergent definitions of normal BRT given in orthopaedic studies, which range anywhere from 600 to 1,500 msec.5,16,22,26,27,31,33 In this context, it is difficult to interpret the absolute values for BRT in various studies, since in the vast majority of studies they fall well below these arbitrarily defined cutoffs.
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Financial Disclosure: None reported.
Conflict of Interest: None reported.