Peak contact stress in human hip during gait

The contact stress in a human hip is not uniform and it changes with differ ent body positions. The changing location of the peak contact stress during gait may indicate the predilection sites for further development of osteoa rthritis in the hip. On the basis of laboratory measurements and by using m athematical models of forces and stresses in human hip we determined the po ints of the peak contact stress in successive phases of gait, Results show that the peak stress points are mostly located in the posterior-medial port ion of the weight bearing area, which corresponds well to the clinical obse rvations. It is also shown that in the pathological conditions of hip dyspl asia the peak contact stress trajectory is located more laterally and anter iorly.