Article

The question whether or not a patient with a hip brace should drive a
car is of obvious importance because the advice given to patients to resume
driving is often anecdotal as few scientific data are available on this specific
subject. OBJECTIVES: To assess driving ability (brake response time) with
commonly used hip braces. STUDY DESIGN: Repeated measures design.
METHODS: Brake
response time was assessed under six conditions: (1) without a brace (control),
(2) with a typical postoperative hip brace with adjustable range of motion and
the settings: unrestricted, (3) flexion limited to 70 degrees , (4) extension
blocked at 20 degrees hip flexion, (5) both flexion and extension limited (20
degrees /70 degrees ) and (6) an elastic hip bandage. Brake response time was
assessed using a custom-made driving simulator as used in previous studies. The
participants were a convenience sample of able-bodied participants. RESULTS: A
total of 70 participants (35 women and 35 men) participated in our study. Mean
age was 31.1 (standard deviation: 10.6; range: 21.7-66.4) years. A significant
within-subject effect for brake response time was found ( p = 0.009), but
subsequent post hoc analyses revealed no significant differences between control
and the other settings. CONCLUSION: Based on our findings, it does not seem
mandatory to recommend driving abstinence for patients wearing a hip orthosis. We
suggest that our results be interpreted with caution, because (1) an underlying
pathological hip condition needs to be considered, (2) the ability to drive a car
safely is multifactorial and brake response time is only one component thereof
and (3) brake response time measurements were performed only with healthy
participants. Clinical relevance Hip braces are used in the context of
joint-preserving and prosthetic surgery of the hip. Therefore, clinicians are
confronted with the question whether to allow driving a car with the respective
hip brace or not. Our data suggest that hip braces do not impair brake response
time.

Langue : ANGLAIS