An attempt to measure the effectiveness of different shock-absorbing replacement hip joint designs.
Each hip joint was bonded to a human femur, fitted with a load cell, and subjected to an impact intended to simulate the effect of someone slipping from one stair tread to the next. (The surrounding muscles contract during such a fall to avoid dislocation of the joint. This can generate a local force across the hip of six times body weight).
The load cell allowed a force/time curve to be determined for different designs.