http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2474/15/20

Osteoarthritis of the knee or hip significantly impairs driving ability (cross-sectional survey)

Ulf Krister Hofmann^1*, Maurice Jordan¹, Ina Rondak², Petra Wolf², Torsten Kluba¹and Ingmar Ipach¹

• *Corresponding author: Ulf K Hofmann ulf.hofmann@med.uni-tuebingen.de

Author Affiliations

¹Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Hospital of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Strasse 3, Tübingen D-72076, Germany

²Institute for Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, University Hospital of the Technical University of Munich, Bau 523, Ismaninger Strasse 22, München D-81675, Germany

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BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2014, 15:20  doi:10.1186/1471-2474-15-20

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2474/15/20

Received:	3 June 2013
Accepted:	8 January 2014
Published:	17 January 2014

© 2014 Hofmann et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background

Advising patients about when they can drive after surgery is common practice after arthroplasty of the knee or hip. In the literature, the preoperative braking performance values of the patients are frequently taken as the “safe” landmark. We hypothesised that osteoarthritis (OA), the most frequent reason for arthroplasty, already compromises the ability to perform an emergency stop. We expected that both Reaction Time (RT) and Movement Time (MT) as components of the Total Brake Response Time (TBRT), would be prolonged in patients with OA of the knee or hip in comparison with healthy subjects. We also expected maximum pressure levels on the brake pedal to be reduced in such cases.

Methods

A real car cabin was equipped with pressure sensors on the accelerator and brake pedals to measure RT, MT, TBRT and maximum Brake Force (BF) under realistic spatial constraints. Patients with OA of the knee (right n = 18, left n = 15) or hip (right n = 20, left n = 19) were compared with a healthy control group (n = 21).

Results

All measured values for TBRT in the control group remained below 600 ms. OA of the right hip or knee significantly prolonged the braking performance (right hip: TBRT p = 0.025, right knee: TBRT p < 0.001), whereas OA of the left hip did not impair driving ability (TBRT p = 0.228). Intriguingly, OA of the left knee prolonged RT and MT to the same degree as OA on the contralateral side (RT p = 0.001, MT p < 0.001).

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that depending on the localisation of OA, driving capability can be impaired; OA can significantly increase the total braking distance. To ensure safe traffic participation the safety margin for TBRT should be strictly set, under our experimental conditions, at around 600 ms. Moreover, therapeutic approaches to OA, such as physiotherapy, and patients receiving surgery of the left knee should take into account that left knee OA can also impair driving ability.

Trial registration

Clinical trial registration number: Project number of the ethics committee of the University of Tübingen: 268/2009BO2; 267/2009BO2.

Keywords: 

Automobile driving; Reaction time; Osteoarthritis of the knee; Osteoarthritis of the hip; Total brake response time; Driver reaction time