Patent ID: 7153328

Claim:
An artificial hip joint prosthesis for installation between a pelvis and a femur to allow the femur to be rotated relative to the pelvis, comprising: a pelvis-contacting element having a truncated hollow sphere-shaped configuration; a stem capable of being fixed to the femur; a head integrally coupled to a distal end of the stem and having a truncated sphere-shaped configuration; and a flexible joint member interposed between the pelvis-contacting element and the stem to accommodate and rotatably support the head, the flexible joint member comprising: a body part having a configuration of a hollow hemisphere; a substantially ring shaped resilient part formed at an entrance of the body part to have a predetermined thickness, the resilient part having at least one slit to allow expansion of the resilient part; and a middle part between the body part and the resilient part, the middle part having at least one through-hole that is wider than the slit in the resilient part, wherein a pair of indented portions are defined on an inner surface of the flexible joint member in a manner such that they are diametrically opposite to each other and help to define an inner diameter of the joint member which is greater than the diameter of the head coupled to the stem, to ensure smooth insertion and removal of the head into and out of the flexible joint member.