Reducing the amount of stress on a hip joint can help prevent excessive wear on an artificial one, says the Arthritis Foundation.
According to Arthritis Today, a foundation publication, a full-scale study conducted by researchers at Marquette University in Milwaukee indicated the way a person carries a load or uses a cane may influence the amount of force placed on the hip during walking.Researchers measured the electrical activity from hip muscles in 20 people with total hip replacements as they walked carrying loads of different weights and on different sides of the body with or without a cane.
Results from this study, funded by the foundation, suggest that using a cane on the side opposite the hip replacement decreases muscle-produced pressure on the replaced hip.
They also found that carrying loads on the same side as a replaced hip decreases the pressures on the hip as well.