Return to sports activity with short stems or standard stems in total hip arthroplasty in patients less than 50 years old.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare return to sport activity between a short femoral cementless stem and a conventional femoral cementless stem in total hip arthroplasty in patients 50 years old and younger.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 55 patients (61 hips) treated with a short femoral cementless stem and 28 patients (32 hips) treated with a conventional femoral cementless stem 50 years old and younger from December 2009 and December 2014.Their mean age was 39.86 (22-49) years and 38.68 (18-49) years, respectively. The mean follow-up was 54.1 (15-68) months and 52.7 (15-72) months, respectively. They were pre- and postoperatively evaluated by the clinical and radiological examination.

RESULTS: No patients with the short stem had intraoperative fracture, but 1 patient with the conventional stem had intraoperative fracture. At final follow-up, there was no statistically significant difference in Harris Hip Score, and radiographic review level between 2 stems. No hip with the short stem had thigh pain, but 6 hips with the conventional stem had thigh pain at the final follow-up. No component was revised for aseptic loosening in either group. There were no differences observed in the return to sports activity between the 2 groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that both short cementless stem and conventional cementless stem provided stable fixation and achieved a satisfactory result in patients 50 years old and younger. There is no difference in return to sports activity level after the procedure.