Trade-off between stress shielding and initial stability on an anatomical cementless stem shortening: in-vitro biomechanical study

•Short stems are becoming popular with minimally invasive THA.•The effect of stem shortening on initial stability and stress shielding is unclear.•We experimentally tested how stem shortening affected the biomechanical performance.•There is a trade-off between stress shielding and initial stability.•A 50 mm stem promoted greater load transfer with sufficient stability.