Resuming driving after a fracture of the lower extremity: a survey among Dutch (orthopaedic) surgeons.

BACKGROUND

Patients with a fracture of the lower extremity often ask their physician during their rehabilitation when they can resume driving. Since no guidelines exist and only scarce literature is available with varying advices the physician has to rely on his own clinical experience and judgment. The Dutch legislation also fails to provide rules when driving can be resumed after a temporary invalidity, it relies on the physician to judge when driving can be assumed to be safe. With this study, we investigated the need for specific guidelines concerning driving after fractures of the lower extremity among Dutch (orthopaedic) surgeons.

METHODS

A survey was conducted among Dutch (orthopaedic) surgeons consisting of four parts; the first part contains questions about how the physician handles with patients who suffered from a lower extremity fracture. The second part of the survey is about which criteria are used to judge whether driving can be resumed. The third part contains true/false/do not know questions about the legal context on participation in motorized traffic with a (temporary) disability. The fourth and last part is a series of examples of fractures with a description of how the fracture was treated in which we asked how long it should normally take before a patient can resume driving again safely per case. A final question is about the need for specific guidelines on this topic.

RESULTS

One third of the surgeons do not advise their patients regarding driving. A wide range of criteria is used to consider whether driving is safe, however the possibility of full weight bearing is considered the most important. The legal knowledge of the surgeons on this subject is poor; up to 10% believe that driving with a plaster on the right leg is allowed. Seventy-nine percent of the questioned surgeons believe that guidelines concerning driving after a fracture should be developed.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study shows that there is a great demand for guidelines concerning car driving after a fracture of the lower extremity.