Contact Pressures from an Instrumented Hip Endoprosthesis

A pressure-measuring Moore-type endoprosthesis was implanted in a seventy-three-year-old patient who had sustained a displaced fracture of the femoral neck. The measurement and telemetry of contact pressures in the hip began in the operating room, and data were acquired periodically for more than thirty-six months. Unexpectedly high localized contact pressures between the acetabular cartilage and the prosthesis were recorded. Early in the period of recovery, activities such as using a bedpan or performing isometric exercise produced pressures that were close to those recorded during normal walking. The highest pressure, eighteen megapascals, was recorded one year postoperatively, while the patient was rising from a chair. High pressures occurred in the superior and posterior aspects of the acetabulum.