Airbag may effectively protect the elderly against hip fractures

hip fracturesIllustrasjon.hip fractures.Photo.pixabay.com

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An airbag, attached to the hip, which is triggered when a person falls, may be the solution to avoiding serious injuries such as hip fractures. The airbag is under development.

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Filippo van Hellberg Hubar has developed the airbag, ‘Wolk’, at the University of Delft in the Netherlands.

‘Our target market falls (with the possibility of accident), on average, two to three times a year, so Wolk is a product that can be reused’, he told Reuters.

When a fall is detected, the system activates and a capsule releases the gas which inflates the airbag. It attaches to a belt around the hips. The airbag has thus far only been tested on younger people, but will now be tested on older folk at five nursing homes.

If the tests move in the right direction, the airbag will be on the market within a year.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today

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