Occasionally cracks are seen when implants are driven into bone. This is because bone is prepared for a very tight initial fit of the implant.

In hip resurfacing the femoral side never fractures in surgery. It is extremely rare to see a socket wall fracture. These are typically stable and require only that the patient stay on crutches longer after surgery.

In stemmed total hip replacement, 1-2 % of cases suffer a crack around the top of the femur during stem insertion. This can easily be handled with a cable placed in surgery around the crack. These patients usually also need to stay on crutches a little longer after surgery.