When Do Squeaky Hips Become A Health Concern?

When there's YouTube footage, of course.

Recently the WSJ Health Blog, the rest of the internet universe, and most print sources ran an article about the rather minor problem of squeaky hip joint prosthetics.  The odd but no doubt disconcerting side-effect will afflict about 7% of ceramic-on-ceramic prosthetics, and up to 20% of the rest will make other snap, crackle and popping noises.  Interestingly, the original study by Jarret et al., was conducted between 2003-2005, and was presented at a meeting in Nov. 2006.  An article  was published in early 2007 about the findings and a good summary of the study was reported in the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgery.  At this point it was still just an orthopaedic nuisance, a pipsqueak of an issue.  In January 2008 a YouTube video of an actual patient squeaking along a hallway is posted and soon after (about 27,000 viewings after) it becomes a media superstar.  Go figure.

I'm sure you've heard the story and have probably seen the video, but just in case, here it is,

One other thing.  They still haven't figured out exactly why this kind of prosthesis squeaks.  A  possible clue may be found in the French term used for an intra-articular loose body, the souris intra-articulaire, or intra-articular mouse.  Just a thought.

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