Hip protector

Claim 1

A hip protector for protecting the neck region of the femur of a human body comprising: a resilient shell having a substantially uniform thickness, a convex side, a concave side and annular outer rim forming a continuously smooth dome shape surface without sharp edges; a rigid internal core encased by the resilient shell and maintained a distance from the annular outer rim; the concave side being concave in both the transverse and longitudinal direction, wherein, upon positioning on a human body, the annular outer rim abuts the human body while the inner concave surface is spaced from and precluded from abutting the human body; the annular outer rim comprises a substantially elliptical configuration having a major diameter which terminates in a generally round end with symmetrical sides and in a slightly obtuse end with symmetrical sides, and a minor diameter; the resilient shell is made of a closed-cell thermoplastic material such as polypropylene foam; the core substantially conforms to the shape of the shell member and is made of a rigid thermoplastic material such as polypropylene and completely concealed in said shell; and wherein when properly positioned on the human body, said slightly obtuse end faces downward as attached and is curved to provide a depth of the dome shaped shell member between 2.5 cm and 4.5 cm.