A hip protector is a padded garment worn over the hip bones, usually as a brief or short pant, designed to cushion the hip when a fall lands on the side. It is one of the few products on this route that sits on her body instead of in the room, so the box copy matters less than two plain questions: will she keep it on through a whole night, and will it still fit after the laundry has been through the machine a few times.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Ask the physician first
Before you order anything, ask her physician whether a hip protector makes sense for her particular falls. Bring the pattern you have been writing down: where she lands, what time it happens, and what she was doing when she went down. The physician can say whether her falls are the kind a hip pad is meant to address and whether anything else should come first. That is a clinical question, so it goes to the physician, not to the product page.
Judge the size chart, not the label
Every maker publishes a size chart keyed to hip measurement. Take the measurement with a soft tape around the widest part of her hips, snug but not tight, over the underwear she will actually wear at night. Write the number down before you compare anything. If she falls between two sizes, note which way the chart says to go, and ask whether the seller's return terms cover a wrong size.
Check where the pad sits
Try the garment on her, or on someone of similar build if she cannot manage the trial, and check that each pad lies over the bony point of the hip. A pad that rides up toward the waist or slides toward the back will miss a side fall. Check the leg openings too. A garment that bunches at the knee or pinches at the thigh is one she will take off before morning, and then it protects nothing.
Read the wash line and count the spares
Read the care label before you buy. Note the water temperature, whether the garment can go in a dryer, and whether the pads come out for washing or stay sewn in. A sewn-in pad that needs a hot wash tends to wear out sooner than the packaging suggests, and a garment that is still damp at bedtime will not be worn. Work out how many you need so there is always a dry one ready, and write down which day the laundry happens. Who does the washing is a line on the list, not an afterthought.
Run a one-week trial before you commit
Buy the smallest set that gives you a rotation, then wear it for a week of nights. Keep a short log each morning: on or off at bedtime, whether it slid or bunched, whether it chafed, and whether she objected to it. Read the return terms before the trial starts, because some sellers will not take back a garment that has been worn, and keep the receipt and the packaging until the trial is over. For how this desk checks claims before it recommends a step, see the how we write this desk page.
What to write down
Write the hip measurement, the size you chose and the chart line it matches, the wash temperature, the number of garments you need for rotation, the return deadline, and the result of the week-long log. Beside the result, write what you would change: a different size, a different closure, or a question for the physician about whether it should be worn at all. A hip protector does not fix the bed-to-bathroom trip, so keep the route and the lighting on the list too. Bring the whole list to the next appointment.