Hip protection articles
Identification of high risk patients
As the population gets older, the number of hip fractures is likely to go up. It is hard to recover from a hip fracture and afterwards many people lose the ability to live on their own which is a threat to the independence and the quality of life of the older person.
Hip fractures drive up healthcare costs in a speedy pace
Hip fractures account for the majority of osteoporotic fragility fractures and for over 40% of the estimated burden of osteoporosis worldwide. In 2010, there were an estimated 600,000 incident hip fractures in the European Union, costing €20 billion and accounting for 54% of the total costs of osteoporosis[1]
What are the future projections?
A hip fracture is a common and serious injury that usually requires surgery. Even after surgery and rehabilitation, the injury often has a profound impact on general function level and mobility and affects quality of life in general. And according to various projections, the number of hip fractures will be increasing.
Study in Great Britain: Could a minute of exercise a day prevent osteoporosis?
According to WHO diagnostic criteria, approximately 22 million women and 5.5 million men between 50-84 years of age are estimated to have osteoporosis in the EU. In USA, 44 million people suffer from either osteoporosis or low bone mass[1]. It is a serious condition that has a huge impact on the lives of the people suffering from it and therefore any new initiative that can contribute to either prevent the condition or minimize the impact of it is of great importance.
Biomechanical tests
It is challenging to advocate for the use of hip protectors due to the difficulty in proving their worth. In this context, it is important to know, how hip protectors attenuate force as this ability may prevent a hip fracture. Often, studies of the protective performance of hip protectors bring about diverging results, which leads to uncertainty about how efficient hip protectors are at attenuating the impact of a fall.
Market Study Denmark
It’s a well known fact that elderly, who have already suffered a fall, have an increased risk of suffering more falls. In fact, the risk of suffering a second fall is doubled to tripled the year after the first fall. Between 3-10% of the falls cause bones to fracture and in 1-6% of bone fractures, a hip fracture is sustained. Based on the overall change in age demographics, fall-related admission to hospital for people aged 65+ is expected to increase by 100% in Denmark by the year 2040!
Fall and hip fracture prevention
Falls are the leading cause of injury related emergency department visits for older adults and the major cause of hip fractures. Every year, several thousands of people will suffer a hip fracture. The consequences are painful lengthy treatment, as well as a need for nursing care. This is often a threat to the independence and the quality of life of the older adult. With the right efforts, falls can be prevented, but if they do occur, a hip protector can reduce the consequences significantly. We have collected the most important information about fall prevention and hip protection in the below article.
