ST. LOUIS – Each year, 300,000 Americans break a hip and 75% of them never get back to the function they had before the fracture.
But that's not the only grim statistic.
"A significant number of patients do not survive after the hip fracture. There's about a 25% mortality rate within the first year," said Dr. Ellen Binder, a geriatrician at Washington University in St. Louis.
Binder is testing a testosterone supplement with an extended weight-lifting program to improve those odds for women.
"They are getting better. And they are getting stronger," Binder said.
Testosterone increases muscle and bone mass. Women use the gel once a day and lift weights twice a week for six months. A pilot study shows this approach improves mobility, lean body mass and strength.
"The functional aspect of this is really the muscles getting stronger; the walking getting better; the balance getting better," Binder said.
Joan Mowery, who is recovering from a broken hip, has already seen the benefit.
"Not only am I improving on the side that was fractured. I'm improving all the way around," she said.
Mowery plans to join her own gym when the study is over. There's no chance she'll let herself become a statistic.
"I got too much to do. I'm not done," Mowery said.
On average, most people will get about three weeks of inpatient rehab after a hip fracture, depending on their insurance, followed by a few weeks at home.
The rehab program in this study is six full months. Doctors hope that extended rehab will get women back to their old selves and reduce the risk of future fractures.
The study is still recruiting patients in Galveston, Texas, St. Louis, Denver, Boston, Baltimore and Farmington, Connecticut.