Use of a hip protector does not necessarily provide protection against a hip fracture. Researchers at Harvard Medical School tested the effectivenesss of energy-absorbing hip protectors in reducing fractures among 1,042 residents of 37 nursing homes. After a 20-month follow-up, they found that fractures on protected hips (3.1 percent) did not differ noticeably from those on unprotected hips (2.5 percent). An earlier study found that hip protectors used by 299 nursing-home residents had a preventive potential of only 50 percent, a finding based on residents wearing the hip protector in the correct position each day.
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