Upper extremity injuries due to threshing machine.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to report the patients who were admitted to our hospital with upper extremity injuries due to threshing machine, to determine the most appropriate classification, to estimate the treatment modalities, and to discuss the prevention methods. METHODS Twenty-five patients who had suffered injuries sustained by a threshing machine were retrospectively investigated. The patients were analyzed with respect to age, gender, admission month, hospitalization period, the type of injured tissue, and the treatment modality. RESULTS Twenty-four of the patients were male and one was female, and the mean age of the patients was 19.4 (2-51) years; 60% of the patients were under the age of 15. The patients were admitted most commonly in the month of August. CONCLUSION We believe that shielding the rotating components of farming machinery that cause injuries, informing and educating farming families (by physicians), forbidding the entrance of children to areas with agricultural machines, providing information to children in schools (in those regions with developing agriculture) about agricultural accidents and their prevention methods, and adjusting the working hours of farming personnel, especially in the hottest months of the year, may be beneficial in preventing accidents due to farming machinery.