(Credit: Steve Clark)
LAS VEGAS—When my aunt fell and broke a bone, it sent her on a downward health spiral she never recovered from. That story is all too common, and a prototype wearable I saw at CES called the Smart Hip Guardian is designed to address the problem.
It straps around your hips like a belt and secures easily with a front buckle. An embedded microprocessor uses sensor data and software algorithms to detect falls and deploy airbags to reduce the blow. It promises to inflate 0.2 seconds before impact, providing protective padding around the waist and hips. The goal is to prevent hip fractures, which often result in a significant decline in mobility.
"It's detecting body movement that is different than normal," Steve Clark, CEO of Briggs Health Solutions, the company behind the Smart Hip Guardian, tells me. "The gaits change; they're hitting a speed or angle that is different than everyday activity, and that's what signifies there's going to be a fall."
(Credit: Briggs Health Solutions)After impact, it starts to deflate, so the person doesn't experience a rebound injury due to a bounce. The battery-powered device plugs in like a phone and promises up to four days of power between charges.
For a product like this, design is key, since it's only effective if you actually wear it. Because people are used to wearing belts anyway, it's not out of the realm of possibility that they'd wear this.
I tried on a prototype at CES, and found it surprisingly unobtrusive. It's a bit bulky on the back of the strap, where the airbag activator resides, and that part gets a little warm. If you're always cold like me, or if you experience lower back pain, the warming aspect might actually be a positive.
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(Credit: Steve Clark)I can't personally confirm whether the Smart Hip Guardian actually works, but Clark says the product has undergone nine different testing procedures. They tested the device's mechanics with the help of youth hockey and soccer players.
"We got 21,000 different falls with perfect readout," Clark says of the youth testing. "We've also tested it in everyday activity in senior living to make sure there's no issues and that they can comfortably wear it."
Smart Hip Guardian is targeting people aged 65 and older, but it may be most helpful for women over the age of 75.
"75% of hip fractures are females," Clark says. "If you have a hip fracture and you're over 75 years old, 25% of those pass away within the first year."
The Smart Hip Guardian isn't yet available, but Briggs Health Solutions expects to launch it in 2026, priced at $799.90 for a 2-pack. Though this is a fairly novel concept, at least one similar product is already available for purchase in the US, the $799 Fall Protection Airbag Belt.