Driving reaction time before and after anterior cervical fusion for disc herniation: a preliminary study

Purpose Reduced driving reaction time (DRT) has already been studied in context with lumbar disc surgeries. Data on whether cervical spine pathologies impair driving abilities are still lacking. In addition, no return-to-driving recommendations after anterior cervical fusion procedures have been pub...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European spine journal 2013-07, Vol.22 (7), p.1517-1521
Main Authors: Lechner, Ricarda, Thaler, Martin, Krismer, Martin, Haid, Christian, Obernauer, Jochen, Obwegeser, Alois
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automobile Driving
Cervical Vertebrae - surgery
Female
Humans
Intervertebral Disc Displacement - surgery
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Neurosurgery
Original
Original Article
Reaction Time
Spinal Fusion - methods
Surgical Orthopedics
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Summary:Purpose Reduced driving reaction time (DRT) has already been studied in context with lumbar disc surgeries. Data on whether cervical spine pathologies impair driving abilities are still lacking. In addition, no return-to-driving recommendations after anterior cervical fusion procedures have been published. Therefore, we assessed DRT before and after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. Methods We performed a prospective study with 12 patients (mean age 47.2 years; female 7, male 5). DRT as well as arm and neck pain were evaluated before surgery, on the day before discharge from hospital and at the 4–6-week follow-up examinations. 31 healthy subjects were tested for DRT as a control group. Results All patients showed significant improvement in DRT in the longitudinal course ( p  
ISSN:0940-6719
1432-0932
DOI:10.1007/s00586-013-2688-6