Abstract
1. The structure and blood supply of the femoral head and neck, the mechanics of weight bearing, and the known effects of an inert foreign body are considered in relation to arthroplasty.
2. Some artificial hips are reviewed from the biomechanical standpoint.
3. From the information now available it is inferred that mechanical soundness and clinical success are not only co-related but interdependent; and that the mechanical problem of design offers most scope for further development at the present stage of our knowledge.
4. To this end six propositions are submitted.
5. A theoretical replacement arthroplasty, confined to the head and neck, in which breakdown of the component forces suggests that reciprocal use of both tensional and compressive loads might occur as in the natural femur, is described.
