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Jeremy Toomey
09-14-2011, 8:31 PM
Hi,

I am a hobbyist who also happens to be a an orthopedic surgery resident in the midwest who will be doing a fellowship in hand surgery in a few years. I am preparing to give a presentation on the effects of saw injuries to the hand. I am particularly interested in the economic impact it has had on patient's lives such as the ability to continue your job as well as your hobbies. What I am looking for with this post is anyone who has experienced a saw injury that has required a trip to the ER for sutures or more involved care from someone such as myself. I'm interested in your profession prior to the injury, whether that has changed as a result of the injury and whether or not your dominant hand was involved. This is NOT a formal research effort in any way. I simply want to take an informal poll to illustrate that these injuries occur to people from all walks of life and that they have a much larger economic impact beyond the dollars spent within the healthcare system. Any replies are appreciated and I completely understand if folks are reluctant to respond. No one will be identified during the presentation. All of the responses gathered are going to be used in a generic manner, likely a simple table or graph of some type. Please feel free to PM me if you would like to participate, but not in a public forum.

Hopefully this is kosher with the moderators and doesn't run afoul of any of the rules of the road here. This seemed like the best site to gather information on this. There is only one paper I know of in the orthopedic literature dealing with the economics of this injury, despite the fact that in 4 years of residency I have unfortunately completed numerous amputations from saw injuries and it is a rather common event that is life changing.

Also, thanks for all of the great advice and inspiration I have taken from this site as a long time lurker. It is much appreciated.

Thanks.

Glenn Kramer
09-14-2011, 9:16 PM
Jeremy,

I'll be first I suppose.

I 1996 I completely detached 3 fingers on my left and then proceeded to rip my pinky down the middle. This happened on a 10" Delta Unisew.

Other stats at date of the accident:
Age: 44
Previous woodworking expeience about 25 years without an accident
I was not cutting wood at the time of the accident. I accidentaly left the saw running, not realizing it was, could not hear it over dust collector noise and was wearing the best hearing protection. I reached to the blind side of the fence to pick up a tape measure and it happened.
Left hand is non dominant.
Surgery: lasted 9 hours having the 3 fingers reattached, pinky sutured and later grafted.
I returned to work about one week later, continued with 6 months PT (weekly)
I continue to do all types of woodworking (Sawstop TS of course) and have the utmost respect for my hand surgeon.

Should you request further info please PM. Best of luck with your survey and career. Woodworkers like us need fellows like you.

Kindset regards, Glenn

curtis rosche
09-14-2011, 10:09 PM
look for a few threads i started when i cut off my finger on a saw may 15 2009

Dan Hintz
09-15-2011, 6:43 AM
Ask the guy from the WOW group... he had a nasty run-in with a chainsaw-style carving tool. A couple of threads have been started here on it.

BOB OLINGER
09-15-2011, 10:40 AM
Hi Jeremy,

Here's some input from a neighbor next door in Ames, IA.

I'm 63 yrs. old; had my table saw accident in about March, 2010 (61 yrs. old at the time). I'm a hobbiest; this was my first table saw accident. I was ripping a piece of red oak, about 4-5" wide, using a push stick with my right hand. Saw was a 9" Delta that I'd operated for like 30+yrs. I put my left hand on the board after it was started like 6" through the blade in attempt to control the piece being ripped off and my left thumb accidently grazed the blade. It happened in a split second. In particular, the blade cut into the fleshy part of my left thumb about 3/4" down from the tip, no tendons cut. I made a trip to the ER, got 7 sutures. I also encountered some nerve damage as I've lost most feeling in the thumb from about the first joint/up. This was not my dominant hand. After healing, I went through some rehabilitation and getting alone fine; just disturbing that I lost the sensitivity in upper thumb. HOWEVER, my accident could have been MUCH, MUCH worse; I'm so thankful it wasn't. I have utmost respect for power tools, try to practice safety, but these are called accidents for a reason - and they happen in a split second regardless of most precautions.

Result = I purchased a SawStop in January, 2011.

I am curious in what part of Omaha you practice. We have a son in Creighton Dental School and daughter-in-law just starting Creighton Medical School.

Let us know if anything further.

bob

Gordon Eyre
09-15-2011, 11:14 AM
At the age of 74 I had my first table saw accident. I was cutting a small piece of 1/4 plywood when it moved away from the fence slightly and caught the blade kicking it back very violently. It hit my hand between my thumb and first finger causing a deep ragged cut. It took 14 stitches to close the wound. Fortunately it did not cause any ligament damage and after a two week recuperation I was able to resume woodworking. Looking back on this accident I realize how stupid it was for me not to use a hold down and a means of pushing the wood through the blade; e.g., the Gripper.

The date of the accident was August 17, 2008.
I lost no functionality of my hand as a result of this accident.

ray hampton
09-15-2011, 2:17 PM
I got a important question for any hand injuries, do your hand bother you when the hand gets cold, I had the skin remove from my knuckles by 2 different machines and the hand ache badly during the cold weather

Alex Jay Tauer
09-15-2011, 3:02 PM
I got a important question for any hand injuries, do your hand bother you when the hand gets cold, I had the skin remove from my knuckles by 2 different machines and the hand ache badly during the cold weather

I sliced my index finger on my left hand almost completely off during shop class back in the 10th grade. I was around 14 at the time. It took a rather lengthy surgery, and numerous stitches to re-attach it. I spent a few months taking PT to get the feeling back into it and now have full use of it.

Luckily, my left hand is not my dominant hand. That happened approximately 10 years ago, and it has not really affected me that much, other than creating a nice heft hole in my parents bank account. The trips back and forth to the PT add up over time.

It still bothers me when it gets cold out, but living in Southeast Texas, it doesn't hurt too often.

Jeremy Toomey
09-15-2011, 5:46 PM
Hi Jeremy,

Here's some input from a neighbor next door in Ames, IA.

I'm 63 yrs. old; had my table saw accident in about March, 2010 (61 yrs. old at the time). I'm a hobbiest; this was my first table saw accident. I was ripping a piece of red oak, about 4-5" wide, using a push stick with my right hand. Saw was a 9" Delta that I'd operated for like 30+yrs. I put my left hand on the board after it was started like 6" through the blade in attempt to control the piece being ripped off and my left thumb accidently grazed the blade. It happened in a split second. In particular, the blade cut into the fleshy part of my left thumb about 3/4" down from the tip, no tendons cut. I made a trip to the ER, got 7 sutures. I also encountered some nerve damage as I've lost most feeling in the thumb from about the first joint/up. This was not my dominant hand. After healing, I went through some rehabilitation and getting alone fine; just disturbing that I lost the sensitivity in upper thumb. HOWEVER, my accident could have been MUCH, MUCH worse; I'm so thankful it wasn't. I have utmost respect for power tools, try to practice safety, but these are called accidents for a reason - and they happen in a split second regardless of most precautions.

Result = I purchased a SawStop in January, 2011.

I am curious in what part of Omaha you practice. We have a son in Creighton Dental School and daughter-in-law just starting Creighton Medical School.

Let us know if anything further.



bob
Bob,

I am the University of Nebraska Medical Center. I rotated at Creighton as an intern. Both places are very busy as they are the two main trauma centers for a very large area. Best of luck to your son and daughter-in-law. I don't know much about Dentistry but I would be more than happy to answer any questions your daughter-in-law might have regarding medical school and residency.

Thanks for the info about the accident. You are certainly correct about the possibility of it having been been significantly worse. Sadly, I have seen some devastating injuries.

Jeremy Toomey
09-15-2011, 7:06 PM
look for a few threads i started when i cut off my finger on a saw may 15 2009

Will do. Thanks.

Jeremy Toomey
09-15-2011, 7:07 PM
Gordon,

Thanks for the reply. I'm happy to hear you ended up with a good outcome. Take care.

Jeremy

Jeremy Toomey
09-15-2011, 7:12 PM
Cold intolerance is fairly common following certain injuries in the extremities. It's tough to manage and can be very frustrating for patients. Certainly not as bad in warmer climates. Thanks for responding.

BOB OLINGER
09-16-2011, 10:06 AM
Jeremy,

Thanks, I'll pass it on.

bob

W Craig Wilson
09-17-2011, 8:40 AM
January 2, 2010. I learned (the painfully hard way) that all of those shop safety rules have a purpose. Rules like "blade height just slightly higher than the work piece", like "guards in place", like "use a push stick", and my own personal rule "quit when you make a small mistake BEFORE you make a big one".

While trying to clear a thin strip from the table saw, I dragged two fingers of my left (I'm a 'righty') hand accross the back of the spinning blade.
The damage was painful but minimal; no lost length. Fractures to the last bones (distal phalanx) on both the index and middle fingers. Middle finger has three distinct blade tooth tracks on tip and a dime sized road-rash spot between 1st & 2nd knuckles. Index finger took the brunt; has damage from the tip through the nail and skin ripped (avulsion) from back down to the second knuckle (proximal inter-phalangeal joint). The hand surgeon took a chunk of skin from my arm to graft onto the finger.
I must have seen a dozen medical professionals in the ER and follow up - all have made the point of saying "That's not so bad for a table saw injury".

I work for a Fortune 100 company and have excellent health insurance. Even with that, my portion of the costs wre more than $5,000. (I wish somone would have told me on Christmas day that I was about to spend a lot of money and given me an option - would I like to buy a new SawStop machine, or spend it in the emergency room.)

As for function loss in my fingers, there is a noticeble weakness of grip - unreliable when moving objects greater than 15 or 20 pounds and a numbness in the tips of the two fingers - I can't rely on that hand when checking for smothness while sanding. My job entails a lot of typing (keyboard) but does not require much strength. It took me a few months to get back to speed with the hand but I would say that for work-use I have returned to 95% or more. More impact to my woodworking hobby, but I can work around it by planning ahead and asking for help when lifting.