Motion of the bipolar hip prosthesis components. Friction studied in cadavers.

It has been postulated that most hip motion occurs at the inner bearing in bipolar hip prosthesis. However, radiography and cineradiography analyses have shown that the inner bearing is not always the primary articulation. We studied the frictional behavior of bipolar prosthesis and Austin-Moore prostheses and the motion of the bipolar prosthesis using a pendulum apparatus. The primary articulation was altered according to the amount of loading. When a load of 10 kg was applied to the joint, motion occurred at both bearings with friction coefficients 0.061 at the inner bearing and 0.026 at the outer bearing. With loads of over 20 kg, the outer bearing was the primary articulation. The inner bearing was the dominant articulation only when the acetabular cartilage had been removed. Our results suggest that the motion of bipolar prostheses occurs mainly at the outer bearing during normal walking, and that this prosthesis cannot be expected to reduce wear of articular cartilage.