Hip Protector Helps Prevent Hip Fracture

A study has shown that a padded hip protector helps prevent hip fractures in frail, elderly people. The study was reported in The New England Journal of Medicine (2000;343:1506-1513).

The hip protector, which was extensively tested before the study began, consisted of a stretchy undergarment whose two inside pockets each held a padded shield. The protector was anatomically designed to divert the energy of impact away from the greater trochanter to the soft tissues surrounding the proximal femur and to absorb the energy of any impact to the hip.

The study involved 1,801 subjects, of whom 653 were in the hip-protector group and 1,248 were in the control group. During the study, 13 subjects in the hip-protector group experienced a hip fracture, compared to 67 subjects in the control group. The rates of fracture were 21.3% and 46%, respectively. The risk of pelvic fracture was also slightly lower among the hip-protector group. A weakness of the study, noted by the investigators, was that not all subjects were willing to wear the hip protector as part of their daily clothing, and some of these had fractures when not wearing the protector. The investigators calculate that only 41 people need to use the protector for one year (or eight people for five years) in order for one fracture to be prevented.

The study was conducted by researchers from the department of surgery at Tampere University Medical School and University Hospital (Tampere, Finland).



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New England Journal of Medicine