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Snowblower Injuries to the Hand: A Longitudinal Study
Patrick Curtin1, Michael G Flood, Matthew W DeFazio
1From the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, UMass Memorial Medical Center, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Objectives:
The aim of our study is to understand the types of injuries patients experience from snowblowers, along with their treatment, and outcomes.
Methods:
Snowblower injuries at a level one trauma center were identified over a 10-year period. Mechanism, injury, treatment, and follow-up were recorded from the medical record, and functional outcomes via QuickDASH were collected when available.
Results:
Of 52 patients, 94% were male with an average age of 50 years and 83% of patients sustained the injury by unclogging the machine. All patients required partial revision amputation and/or closure; 43% of patients underwent surgery with 18% requiring reoperation. Seven patients were interviewed and reported varying limitations.
Conclusions:
The injuries in our cohort were universally severe, often leading to amputation and surgery. Further studies are needed to better characterize the resulting degree of disability.
