MADAM M. Savunthri, who is 90 years old, broke her hip when she fell out of bed on Christmas day last year. Her feet got caught in her blanket as she was getting out of bed.

She is one of more than 2,000 hip fracture cases seen here each year - or almost six a day.

Madam Savunthri's case is fairly typical: She is elderly, a woman and she broke her hip in a fall at home. Hundreds of people in Singapore fracture their hips at home every year, with more than a third doing so in the bedroom just before going to bed or on waking up.

Fracture of the hip is in fact a very serious injury, with one in four patients dying within a year.

Even for the 40 per cent who recover well enough to walk without aid, it still means surgery and months of recovery.

About 16 per cent of hip fracture patients end up wheelchair-bound, while 20 per cent can move around with the help of a walking stick.

A team of three doctors found that two in three people break their hip at home. Their findings were published in the Singapore Medical Journal last month.

They said: 'Contrary to common perception, the toilet is not the commonest area where falls occur. The majority of our patients fell before going to bed or after they had woken up in the bedroom.'

Dr T.S. Howe, the senior doctor in the team and director of trauma services at Singapore General Hospital, gives this advice: have a night light on, and don't clutter the floor with clothes, rugs or boxes that could cause the elderly to trip and fall.

Read the full report in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.