Hip fracture is a major health threat to older adults with a high death rate: 1/3 older adults hospitalised due to hip fracture will die within the next 6 months following the incident, and the rate increases to 53% within a one-year period. Hip fracture can also lead to immobility and social isolation. Therefore, prevention of hip fracture is a health care priority. Studies have found that over 95% of hip fractures are caused by falls. Hence, fall protection is needed to prevent hip fracture among older adults, and it is often achieved by using polymeric foam or textile hip protectors. However, they are usually bulky, hence very uncomfortable to wear and not breathable, which greatly reduce the user adherence. Furthermore, they are often unisized, which does not consider the different shapes and sizes of pelvis among different genders and races. This is a major barrier to product comfort.

In this work, we will use soft polymer 3D printing technology to fabricate flexible TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) hip protectors. This allows us to customise the protector based on the users’ hip profiles. More importantly, we will use our newly invented implicit design method - conformal TPMS structure generation scheme, to mass-customise hip protectors with multiscale lattice structure infills, which are automatically generated for multiple participants with individually tailored designs. This novel hip protector will be lighter, more breathable, better fit, but with the same energy absorption capability (fall protection). Our novel hip protectors should lead to higher acceptance and adherence and eventually a reduction of hip fractures in older adults in nursing homes.

User acceptance and adherence to the new hip protector will increase significantly. With reasonable effort of promotion, the participants should be acceptable to the idea of wearing the hip protectors on daily basis, and they would recommend their peers to use them as well. Wearing the hip protectors becomes the new norm for older adults who are at risk of falling and involving physical activities daily. Older people should also have more confidence when wearing the hip protectors in performing their daily physical and social activities. They will have less fear of falling and higher quality of life.

- 60 older adults- 4 nursing homes- 40 care givers

2021

3D-printing, Active Ageing, Well-being