Effects of Right Lower Limb Orthopedic Immobilization on Braking Function

Effects of Right Lower Limb Orthopedic Immobilization on Braking Function : An On-the-Road Experimental Study by Healthy Volunteers

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01171287

Enrollment

Registered

2010-07-28

Start date

2008-09-30

Completion date

2014-04-30

Last updated

2015-06-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Automobile Driving With an Aircast Walker, Automobile Driving With a Walking Cast

Keywords

Automobile Driving, Fracture Fixation/instrumentation, Lower Extremity, Orthopedic Fixation Devices, Orthopedic Procedures, Reaction Time, Task Performance and Analysis, Time Factors

Brief summary

Research on the implications of orthopedic injury and surgery on automobile driving ability has been limited. Only a handful of orthopedic issues have been studied to date, especially the safe postoperative resumption of driving. However, effects of orthopedic immobilizations of the lower right limb on fitness to drive are largely unknown, and the physician is left with little guidance. Only one study (Tremblay et al. 2009) have looked at the impact of wearing such devices on braking performances. The results have shown a statistically significant increase of braking times while wearing a removable Aircast walker and a walking cast in healthy subjects under simulated driving conditions. Despite this, the study have not demonstrated that driving with orthopedic immobilization is dangerous since the increase in braking times were minimal. Limitations of this study include the important fact that driving simulation is not real-time driving. In order to assess the validity of the driving simulator used in this study, a similar experimental study during real-time driving was thus devised.

Interventions

PROCEDUREDriving with an Aircast Walker

PROCEDUREDriving with a walking cast

PROCEDUREDriving with a running shoe

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

CROSSOVER

Primary purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

25 Years to 60 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Healthy subjects between 25 to 60 years old * Possession of a valid Quebec driver's license * Driving for at least 5 years * Exclusively use the right foot for accelerating and braking

Exclusion criteria

* Visual acuity deficits or other visual problems uncompensated * History of drug or alcohol abuse * Use of psychotropic drugs * Any illness of the central nervous system such as epilepsy * Sleep disorders * Metabolic problems * Cardiovascular disease * Cerebrovascular disease * Peripheral vascular disease * Psychiatric illness * Renal disease * Musculoskeletal disease * Motion sickness

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Braking performances during real-time driving.	Two years.	The braking performances are assessed using (1) the median foot movement time, (2) the median brake reaction time and (3) the median total braking time.

Countries

Canada

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026