Keep your elbow in!
People who poke their elbows out of car windows risk devastating injuries, doctors warned in a recent Perth study, published in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.
The sight of a car with the windows down and the driver poking his or her elbow out into the traffic is familiar to many road users, but few realise this relaxed pose could result in serious injury to the protruding limb.
Dr Vera Kinzel and colleagues from the Orthopaedic Department at the Royal Perth Hospital studied so-called sideswipe injuries to the upper arm in motor vehicle accidents in an attempt to identify how the injuries occur and highlight their severity.
Protruding elbows are most commonly injured by being swiped by a car coming from the opposite direction, or during loss of control of the vehicle resulting in the limb hitting a wall or post, they found.
The result is severe soft-tissue damage, open fractures and sometimes even partial amputation of the limb. These injuries need multiple operations and involve long rehabilitation periods.
Of the eleven patients studied, seven have residual impairment affecting employment prospects, as a result of their accidents.
"Despite legislation in all Australian States forbidding drivers or passengers from having any body part outside the car, sideswipe injures are still ever-present," says Dr Kinzel.
"Nine of the patients studied sustained their injuries on rural roads and alcohol intoxication was a factor in six of the accidents.
"Results of the study suggest a variety of measures need to be taken in order to eliminate sideswipe injuries."
These include legislation regarding the interior design of cars, freeway management systems involving surveillance cameras and road sensors, and changes to rural road construction, such as centreline rumble-strips and barriers to separate opposing traffic flow.
"Sideswipe injuries unfortunately still occur in Australia," Dr Kinzel says.
"Increased awareness of this problem and further recommendations to keep arms within the vehicle, are factors most likely to decrease the incidence of this frequently devastating but preventable injury."
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.