Preventing hip fractures

When I thought about my grandmother’s home safety, I worried about burglars and violent criminals breaking in so to hurt her and steal her property. It never occurred to me to consider home safety as meaning a home which would not make it easy for her to be hurt or to hurt herself. That is until she had a fall and fractured her hip.

As a mature lady in her 80s, age meant her bones were weaker than when she was younger and more easily broken. Furthermore, it meant her recovery time was a lot longer than when she’d had a worse break in her 20s (we have photos showing how much she loved her first motorbike). Every year, 300,000 people like her fracture their hips with 95% of them doing so by falling. It is worth noting that 60% of people who pass away from falls are over 65 years old. Luckily, my grandmother is strong willed and won’t let a fracture beat her.

Preventing Hip Factures 

Seniors who sustain hip fractures are at the highest future risk of suffering another fracture.  Many of these seniors are deficient in vitamin D, and vitamin D supplementation is generally believed to improve bone mineral density and also prevent falls. In addition to vitamin D supplementation, seniors should also look to add supplemental calcium to their daily regimen.

Because such a high rate of hip fractures occur among the elderly who have osteoporosis, addressing the osteoporosis itself is usually a good strategy towards preventing future incidents. Although there is no cure for osteoporosis, these FDA-approved medications are used to treat the condition:

• Bisphosphonates – These drugs create a reduction in the activity of cells that lead to bone loss
• Parathyroid Hormone – Approved for post-menopausal women as well as men with osteoporosis and a high probability of having a fracture
• Calcitonin – Promotes calcium regulation and bone metabolism and is approved for treating osteoporosis in women five years or more beyond menopause
• Estrogen and hormone therapy – Approved for the treatment of osteoporosis in women after menopause

It is worth remembering then, how hip fractures can happen, what to do to prevent them, and how to make a home safer to be in.

Interested in learning more? Based on detailed research and the experiences of my grandmother, I have put together a complete guide to hip fractures, which includes:

• Statistics

• Risks

• Surgery

• Complications

• Prevention

• Pain Management