Driving Plastered: Who Does It, Is It Safe and What to Tell Patients

Abstract

According to these results, a doctor's advice should be to patients not to drive in a long arm upper limb fracture cast and to consider concomitant patient factors when advising patients in short arm casts. Although we do not suggest that patients drive while wearing any cast, we have found a large proportion do. Our limited study has found that a young, fit and pain-free person may be able to drive well enough to pass a driving test while wearing a short arm cast.

The effect of shoulder immobilization on driving performance

“…3 Whereas the NHTSA recommendation is to avoid driving with any splint or immobilization device that may interfere with driving, 23 studies have shown that patients often continue to drive despite extremity immobilization. 3,14,15,33 The prevalence of noncompliance clearly indicates the need for evidencebased recommendations for patients whose care involves the use of temporary immobilization devices.…”

“…There have been few studies examining the effect of upper extremity immobilization on driving performance, with the majority of research focusing on above-and below-the-elbow casts and splints. 4,9,12,14,15 To our knowledge, there has been no study investigating the effect of shoulder immobilization on driving safety. Using a validated computerized driving simulator, this study sought to determine the effect of dominant arm sling immobilization on driving performance with a driving simulator.…”

“…[6][7][8]11,13,19,24,29 Studies examining the effect of ankle fracture fixation, 7 total hip arthroplasty, 19 total knee arthroplasty, 29 and knee arthroscopy 11 on driving performance have helped define guidelines for return to driving after these procedures. Research on the effect of immobilization on driving safety has primarily focused on the lower extremity, 6,7,14,26,31 with brake reaction time as the primary outcome. There have been few studies examining the effect of upper extremity immobilization on driving performance, with the majority of research focusing on above-and below-the-elbow casts and splints.…”

Driving with a Short Arm Cast in a Simulator

“…2 Patients in longarm immobilisation devices should not be allowed to drive. 2,3 The evidence for short arm casts is more ambiguous. 2,3 This study tested the ability to steer in a driving simulator in subjects with a short arm cast.…”

The Roles and Performance of Professional Driving Instructors in Novice Driver Education

“…However, the majority of these articles were related to medical fields, including studies of occupational therapist driver assessors or associations between driving and illnesses such as dementia; stroke; Parkinson's disease; visual impairment; neurological conditions; orthopaedic issues; sleep problems; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); autism spectrum disorder (ASD); Down's syndrome; and the effect of drugs, medications and alcohol. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] The subject population was often composed of older drivers, with the articles focusing on their fitness to drive. Critically, even if PDIs were involved in some articles, they were not the main subjects but were instead contributors, for instance in upholding the research design or its validity and reliability.…”