High contact hip stress is related to the development of hip pathology with increasing age

Background. High contact hip stress is believed to be one of the key biomechanical factors involved in the hip cartilage degeneration and osteoarthritis. Accordingly, with increasing age high contact hip stress is expected to cause elimination of subjects from the population of healthy hips, but its predictive value has not been evaluated so far. The objective of the paper is to investigate whether the exposure of healthy hips to estimated high contact hip stress is related to the development of hip pathology with increasing age. Methods. A cross-sectional age- and gender-matched analysis of the peak contact hip stress calculated from pelvic geometry was made in 103 adult subjects with healthy hips. The peak contact hip stress was calculated from anterior–posterior pelvic radiographs of healthy hips by using a mathematical model of the human hip in the static one-legged stance. Findings. In both female and male population, the average values of the peak contact hip stress normalized to the body weight are significantly higher and the values are also more dispersed in younger subjects when compared to older subjects. Interpretation. The hip joints which remain healthy in the old age have lower average estimated peak contact hip stress. These results are consistent with the explanation that subjects with high estimated peak contact hip stress are more likely to develop hip disease in the course of life.