We measured intraosseous pressures in twenty human hips from cadavera
during progressive serial applications of load using a materials-testing
machine. Pressure rose in strict proportion to load at each of four
different testing sites. In the femoral head, the mean response to loads
applied over 0.1 second was 55 +/- 66 millimeters of mercury per 980
newtons. This value was 3.6 times higher than the mean response in a region
cephalad to the acetabulum and 2.6 and 2.8 times higher than the mean
response in the femoral neck and intertrochanteric regions. In further
studies within the femoral head, pressures were accentuated and reduced by
factors of 1.7 and 0.4, respectively, at faster (0.03 second) and slower
(1.0 second) loading times.