Boat Propeller

The authors provide medical histories of the four individuals injured including color photos of their injuries, how they were treated by paramedics, what happened initially at the hospital, follow up operations, rehabilitation, psychiatric work with them, and numerical evaluations of the percent of recovery they were eventually able to achieve in terms of pain, other symptoms, function in daily living, function in sport/recreation, and quality of life related to their specific injured joints.

In addition, the authors constructed a summary of similar case studies from approximately 20 separate journal articles. The summary includes counts by author on the number of individuals, number of individuals by sex, mean age, activity during which injury occurred (waterskiing, swimming/diving, other), and the number of individuals that fell off and were ran over.

Motorboat Propeller Injuries: A Case Series and Review of the Literature
by: F. Hoexum, E.A.K. Van Delft, G. Van Couwelaar, A.F.W. Van Der Steeg, C.W. Ang, L.G.M. Geeraedts Jr, F.W. Bloemers, and J. Deunk.
Trauma Monthly
July 2017. Vol.22. No.4.

We strongly recommend this article as a good place for medical professionals to start a study of this field, in part because of the extensive bibliography provided. While we did already have all the pure propeller injury studies they cite on our Propeller Safety Bibliography, it will be useful to medical professionals to have these studies on a more manageable list. With no pure propeller studies on their list that were not already listed in our Propeller Safety Bibliography, we suspect they used it to identify at some of these studies. We are always glad to assist such works.

Thanks to the authors and the several facilities involved in putting all this together.

15 June 2022 Update – an overview and bibliography of medical articles on treating watercraft wounds, including water borne marine infections:

18 December 2021 update – nice article:

Watercraft propellers as a mechanism of orthopaedic injuries: injury patterns, management, and complications. Rizzo, Desai, Benson, Viella, & Dodds. European Journal of Trauma and emergency Surgery. Published 28 September 2021. Springer.

8 August 2019 Update – if you have a boat propeller foot or ankle injury or challenges with all the accompanying infections you may find this article helpful as well:

11 October 2023 update