Challenges to Creating Replacements that Work>>
FINDING THE RIGHT MATERIAL
| Materials Used to Make Joint Replacements Need to: | ||
- be made of something that is not easily bent or broken
- be safe to put inside the human body
- withstand a lot of wear and use, so that the joint doesn�t have to be replaced frequently
- allow the parts to move freely against each other, without much friction
- be able to be attached to living bone
Doctors who experimented with joint replacements in the 1800s were handicapped by the lack of suitable materials.
Materials that met all these requirements became available in the mid-1900s. Most of them were originally developed for other purposes.
