Mechanical cornpicker hand injuries.

Abstract

Mechanical cornpicker hand injuries are not frequent in comparison to general hand trauma, but they have a specific mechanism of occurrence and are very severe. This investigation included 221 hand injuries. The sex distribution shows a general male dominance (85.25%) in their active age (84.44%). These are, seasonal injuries mostly occurring in October (75.11%). By type of injuries, mutilating crush injuries are most frequent (64.25%). After completing the treatment, in most cases the functional result were estimated as bad (50.68%). Data concerning education and trainig for operating agricultural machines (96.38%--patients without training) and carrying out safety measures (63.35% of injured patients did not apply any protection measures) are devastating. The number of these injuries, as well as consequent permanent disabilities, may be considerably reduced by preventive measures, inclulding public health services and media. Use of contempoarary agricultural machinery, as well as obligatory training for operating these machines and application of protective measures, may also reduce the incidence of hand injuries during corn picking.