Patent ID: 7476185

Claim:
A dynamic hip stabilizer for preventing hip dislocation of a wearer, the stabilizer comprising: a pelvic girdle defining an upper opening for the wearer's waist and a lower opening for the wearer's hips; at least one thigh cuff defining lower and upper openings for the wearer's thigh; elastic cables attached to the pelvic girdle and the thigh cuff and extending therebetween in a longitudinal direction of the dynamic hip stabilizer to generate tensile forces therebetween; means at lateral regions of the pelvic girdle for flexibly connecting the pelvic girdle and the thigh cuff, limiting rotation of the thigh cuff when under the tensile forces of the elastic cables, and maintaining distance between the pelvic girdle and the thigh cuff; and channeling means associated with the pelvic girdle for guiding and controlling movement of the elastic cables in the longitudinal direction of the stabilizer and for inhibiting movement of the elastic cables in directions transverse to the longitudinal direction of the stabilizer; wherein the pelvic girdle and the thigh cuff each have a frustroconical-shape, and the upper opening of the pelvic girdle is narrower than the lower opening of the pelvic girdle and the lower opening of the thigh cuff is narrower than the upper opening of the thigh cuff such that the pelvic girdle and the thigh cuff are inhibited from moving toward each other under the tensile forces generated by the elastic cables.