Henry’s Pelvic Deltoid: Antiquated Concept or Important Consideration for Total Hip Arthroplasty?

The relevance of Henry’s pelvic deltoid and its contribution to hip abductor strength is often not considered in hip arthroplasty. This small cadaveric study (n = 11) aimed to quantify the relative contributions of the pelvic deltoid muscles to abductor strength and to assess how different surgical approaches(anterolateral, direct lateral and posterior) impact on each of these muscle groups. We inspected the path of each approach and measured the cross-sectional area of the hip abductors, from which the contribution of each muscle to abductor moment was derived. We concluded that the posterior approach has the least impact on the pelvic deltoid and overall abductor moment.