•do Short-stemmed Hip Implants Provide Physiological Load Transfer in the Proximal Femur?

INTRODUCTION Short-stemmed hip implants have been introduced in order to conserve proximal bone mass and could facilitate the use of minimally invasive surgery (MIS), in which smaller incisions limit access to the hip joint. MIS techniques have been associated with faster rehabilitation, reduced peri-operative blood loss and less post-operative pain [1]. The limited access during MIS may increase the risk of surgical mal-placement, the influence of which on the internal loading of the proximal femur is unknown. While conventional stems have been extensively studied in terms of the influence of design, surgical and patient parameters on femoral loading, little is known about the influence of such parameters in the case of short-stemmed implants. Changes to the internal loading of the proximal femur have been associated with bone resorption [2], which may lead to implant loosening [3]. The goal of this study was to examine the influence of surgical implantation, as measured by effective offset and anteversion, of a short-stemmed implant on the strain energy density within the proximal femur. 0 10 20 30 5 6 7