Introduction

The initial stress distribution in the femur after total hip arthroplasty (THA) influences the remodeling of the bone and the clinical results. We conducted thermoelastic stress analysis to evaluate the surface stress distribution in femurs after THA in vitro and elucidated the changes in the stress distribution that were due to the stem design. Using this method, we can analyze the change in the sum of the principal stresses on the basis of the changes in temperature at the bone surface and visualize the change three-dimensionally.