How Can You Mend a Broken Hip?

By the time a person reaches 75, it's not so much the heart that matters, it's the hip. The Bay of Plenty Times - a New Zealand Paper - estimates 250,000 falls per year. More than 3000 result in hip fractures. One hip broken every three hours.

Since a hip replacement cost about $26,000, about $78 million in New Zealand medical bills are paid by taxpayers.

Sean O'Connor, a New Zealand ambulance officer, has invented a device that will help prevent broken hips. He told the media source that the protection device will offer a new lease on life for elderly people, and a potential saving of millions of dollars in medical bills.

His invention is called the Delloch HipFit hip. O'Connor says the protection device is effective because it moves up and down inside the garment to enable the hip to be protected 100% of the time.

"Every person's ball and socket joint is at a different angle so the ability to move the shield is crucial," O'Connor told The Bay of Plenty Times. "It's also needed to look good and be comfortable otherwise people aren't going to wear them."

The Delloch HipFit has been recognized abroad and has begun to receive recognition with distributors in Melbourne and America.

Assisted Living and Continuing Care Residences in the United States are considering the Delloch HipFit.