Musculoskeletal Injuries in Motorcycle Accidents

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors for\udinjuries in individuals who received orthopedics treatment because\udof motorcycle accidents and to help preventing motorcycle\udaccidents and reducing the severity of injuries.\udMethods: In this retrospective study, we included 49 patients who\udhad musculoskeletal injuries due to the motorcycle accidents and\udwere admitted to our orthopedics and traumatology clinic between\udJuly 2008 and January 2011. A standard questionnaire including\udinformation about age, gender, educational level of the patients\udand the time of accident; whether the patient had a protective\udgear and driving license or not, fracture site and pattern, type of\udtreatments, and engine size was filled out by each subject.\udResults: The average age of the subjects was 28.5±8.3 years\ud(range: 16-50). The mean follow-up period was 25.3 months. At\udthe time of injury, 20 patients had a driving license (40.8%), 36\udused helmet (73.5%), 15 wore cover (30.6%), 9 used knee pads\ud(%18.4), and 10 subjects wore special shoes (20.4%). 24.5% of\udthe subjects had an additional organ injury due to the accident.\udIn this study, the frequency of single upper extremity fracture was\ud26.5%, multiple upper extremity fracture was 6.1%, single lower\udextremity fracture was 55.1%, multiple lower extremity fracture\udwas 8.2%, and both upper and lower extremity fracture was 4.1%.\ud51% of cases had conservative treatment, while approximately half\udof the patients have undergone surgical intervention (49%).\udConclusion: Motorcycle accidents should be considered as a\udwhole. We think that improvement of the motorcycle drivers’\udeducation, better road conditions, increasing the use of protective\udgear and strictly control of the drivers will reduce the risk of injuries\udassociated with motorcycle accidents. (The Medical Bulletin of\udHaseki 2015; 53:24-9