Patent ID: 8778030

Claim:
A load bearing implant for medical applications, comprising: a. a femoral implant stem having a male locking tapered fitting adapted for attachment to a internal female taper of a head that locks the head to a femoral implant stem; b. a neck-collar area providing an anatomical distance between a center of said head and a position of said femoral implant stem during implantation so as to provide appropriate stretch for soft tissue; c. said femoral implant stem being made from biocompatible metal having a proximal portion and a tapered distal portion; d. said proximal portion of femoral implant stem being solid and coated with a bone ingrowth coating having an attachment feature for firm attachment to bone within a bone cavity; e. said proximal portion having a plurality of modulus decreasing features including a combination of overlapping and intersecting longitudinal stress reducing cuts or slots and inclined cuts relative to a centerline of the implant thereby increasing load transfer to the bone area in the proximal region and preventing long term bone resorption, wherein the longitudinal stress reducing cuts or slots run parallel relative to the centerline of the implant and the inclined cuts run at an angle relative to the centerline; f. said tapered distal portion having a central aperture whereby the wall thickness in the distal portion decreases progressively towards a distal end, said central aperture terminating within said distal portion, wherein the central aperture extends from a bottom edge of the tapered distal portion and terminates at a top edge of the tapered distal portion so that said tapered distal portion forms a hollow distal stem; g. said tapered distal portion having a plurality of modulus decreasing features including lateral flexural cuts or slots on the outer surface forming a continuous helix along the entire length of the hollow tapered distal portion providing flexibility; h. said cuts or slots on the outer surface of said distal portion having a pre-selected uniform width and a uniform depth and being spaced apart at a distance from each other so that the slots allow flexing of the distal portion; whereby the combination of cuts or slots in the distal portion and central cylindrical aperture allow progressive flexing of the distal end, thereby minimizing excessive loading of the bone tissue, and appropriate selection of slots, depth of slots and spacing between slots prevents metal to metal contact on the adjacent surfaces of the cuts or slots during flexure preventing generation of wear debris.