Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Health Update: Hip protector

Cherrill Hicks
Tuesday 19 January 1993 00:02 GMT
Comments

A PLASTIC hip protector designed by Danish doctors could reduce the risk of hip fractures in elderly people by half, a study has shown. The authors, from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Copenhagen, say that most hip fractures are caused by direct physical injury to the hip in a fall, and they have designed an external hip shield, fixed in specially designed underwear, to soften the impact.

Their study, which involved more than 600 elderly residents of a Danish nursing home, found that use of the protector reduced the risk of hip fracture by 53 per cent.

However, the residents did not take to the protectors: only 25 per cent wore them regularly. The authors suggest in the Lancet that the device should be redesigned to make it more acceptable.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in