Wood-Splitter-Related Upper-Limb Injuries: A Single-Centered Case-Series Study

Arisa Aoyagi, Osamu Nomura (), Norihiro Sasaki, Yuki Fujita, Nana Ichikawa, Yoshiya Ishizawa, Yasuyuki Ishibashi and Hiroyuki Hanada
Additional contact information
Arisa Aoyagi: Department of Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan
Osamu Nomura: Department of Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan
Norihiro Sasaki: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan
Yuki Fujita: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan
Nana Ichikawa: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan
Yoshiya Ishizawa: Department of Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan
Yasuyuki Ishibashi: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan
Hiroyuki Hanada: Department of Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 18, 1-7

Abstract: (1) Background: Injuries to the upper limbs during wood splitting can affect social and economic life. We aimed to describe the clinical information concerning these injuries in Japan. (2) Methods: We identified patients from our patient database from April 2015–November 2021 and extracted data from their medical records, which includes age, gender, occupation, month, time and location of the injury, diagnosis, duration of hospitalization, ICU admission, treatment interventions including surgery, outcome, and medical costs. (3) Result: Seventeen cases were identified. Most of the patients were male ( n = 15), with median age being 68 years old. Regarding the patients’ backgrounds, six were apple farmers and three were unemployed. Injuries to the index finger was most common ( n = 9), followed by injuries to the thumb in five cases ( n = 5). Most of the incidents occurred at home or on the patient’s farm estate. No injuries were due to incidents at work. (4) Conclusion: The wood splitter-related injuries required long-term treatment and frequently damaged the thumb, a functionally important digit. All the injuries were sustained during non-occupational use of a wood splitter. Therefore, we suggest that safety training should be provided to prevent traumatic injuries when these products are being sold.

Keywords: hand injuries; injury prevention; wood splitter (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11507/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11507/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:18:p:11507-:d:913440

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().