Affiliations: Division of Human Mechanical Systems and Design, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan | Toshiba Corp., Tokyo, Japan | Orthopedic Surgery, Marunouchi Hospital, Matsumoto, Japan
Note: [] Corresponding author: Shigeru Tadano, Dr. Eng., Professor, Division of Human Mechanical Systems and Design, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, N13 W8, Kita-ku Sapporo, 060-8628 Japan. Tel./Fax: +81 11 706 6405; E-mail: tadano@eng.hokudai.ac.jp.
Abstract: Hip fracture in the aged easily occurs by falls and may cause these persons to become bedridden. Hip pads are effective in protecting hip fracture as they directly deflect and absorb the impact forces by falls. It is necessary for the material and the structure of hip pads to be designed to realize both high impact absorption and compliance (comfort during wearing). In this report, an impact testing system was developed to test the impact absorbing performance of hip pad with air cushions designed by the research group. The impact absorbing performance was evaluated by the impact load, collision time, and maximum load. To confirm the effectiveness in protecting against hip fracture, an impact force was applied to the greater trochanter of the human femur and the degree of fracture was measured by X-ray examination. As a result, the hip pad with air cushions had a high impact absorbing performance and was sufficiently effective to protect against hip fracture.
Keywords: Biomechanics, hip pad, hip fracture, fall, impact test
