Musculoskeletal injuries in motorcycle accidents

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors for injuries in individuals who received orthopedics treatment because of motorcycle accidents and to help preventing motorcycle accidents and reducing the severity of injuries. Methods: In this retrospective study, we included 49 patients who had musculoskeletal injuries due to the motorcycle accidents and were admitted to our orthopedics and traumatology clinic between July 2008 and January 2011. A standard questionnaire including information about age, gender, educational level of the patients and the time of accident; whether the patient had a protective gear and driving license or not, fracture site and pattern, type of treatments, and engine size was filled out by each subject. Results: The average age of the subjects was 28.5±8.3 years (range: 16-50). The mean follow-up period was 25.3 months. At the time of injury, 20 patients had a driving license (40.8%), 36 used helmet (73.5%), 15 wore cover (30.6%), 9 used knee pads (%18.4), and 10 subjects wore special shoes (20.4%). 24.5% of the subjects had an additional organ injury due to the accident. In this study, the frequency of single upper extremity fracture was 26.5%, multiple upper extremity fracture was 6.1%, single lower extremity fracture was 55.1%, multiple lower extremity fracture was 8.2%, and both upper and lower extremity fracture was 4.1%. 51% of cases had conservative treatment, while approximately half of the patients have undergone surgical intervention (49%). Conclusion: Motorcycle accidents should be considered as a whole. We think that improvement of the motorcycle drivers’ education, better road conditions, increasing the use of protective gear and strictly control of the drivers will reduce the risk of injuries associated with motorcycle accidents.