Effect of hip braces on brake response time: Repeated measures designed study.
BACKGROUND
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.


OBJECTIVE
To assess driving ability (brake response time) with commonly used hip braces.


METHODS
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°, (4) extension blocked at 20° hip flexion, (5) both flexion and extension limited (20°/70°) 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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Dietmar
D
Dammerer
Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Cornelia
C
Waidmann
Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Dennis G
DG
Huber
Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Martin
M
Krismer
Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Christian
C
Haid
Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Michael C
MC
Liebensteiner
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001334:Automobile Driving; D001915:Braces; D005260:Female; D006615:Hip; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
Driving performance; brake response time; driving safety; hip brace; limb orthotic; orthotic