For a patient with a history of falls, hip protectors may offer a way to reduce the risk of injury from a sideways fall. The impact (force) is diverted onto the soft tissue surrounding the hip bone.The hip protector is a rigid shell made of durable plastic, designed to divert a direct impact away from the greater trochanter (hipbone) onto the surrounding soft tissue (only a small amount of the energy created by the fall is absorbed by the hip-protector itself during the impact).
The hip protector works by leading the kinetic energy resulting from a sideways fall away from the protruding bone (greater trochanter = the greater trochanter is the name given to the upper part of the femur) onto the surrounding soft tissue.
For more information, visit the Hip Protector website.