Nerve injury. Transient or permanent nerve injury may occur with total hip arthroplasty. The most common nerve injured is the sciatic, where the incidence is reported to be about 0.7%. This is usually caused by intraoperative trauma, but can also complicate postoper ative dislocation of the prosthesis. The prognosis for nerve recovery is good unless the nerve is severely dam aged. Operative trauma results in less frequent injury to the obturator, gluteal, and femoral nerves.