Padded pants to protect pensioners from breaking their hips are to be put on trial in York.

Ruth Hildreth research coordinator at York District Hospital with a pair of padded pants

Dr Ian Watt, professor of primary care at York University, is seeking to recruit 500 people over the age of 70 who have already suffered one broken hip to wear the hip pad pants as part of a two-year medical trial.

He and Dr David Torgerson, a researcher in the department of health studies at the university, first saw the protective pants on trial in nursing homes in Denmark and wondered if they could be worn comfortably on a day-to-day basis in this country.

It costs the NHS around £940m a year to treat people with hip fractures and the team has received £20,000 NHS funding and a similar amount from the National Osteoporosis Society to conduct the important research project.

Dr Watt said: "If people contact us we will randomly assign them to receive the hip pads or not receive them so we can compare those who wear them to a control group who do not.

"The hope is the group who have been wearing them will be able to tell us just how comfortable they find them and how practical they are."

The pants, which look like tight-fitting boxer shorts, cost £25 each and are made of cotton and lycra with a hard plastic protective shell in the hip area and padding underneath.

Participants in the trials will be given three pairs, "one to wear, one to go in the wash and one for spare" and will be asked to wear them all the time, not just on icy or rainy days.

Dr Watt said he had already been promoting their benefits to patients being discharged from York District Hospital after hip operations and the response had been mixed.

Anyone who is interested should contact Ruth Hildreth, study co-ordinator, on 01904 453741.

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