Investigation of Proprioception and Kinesthesia Sensations in the Upper Extremities of Children with Childhood Cancer

Abstract

Objective:The objective of this study was to examine the proprioception and kinesthesia functions of the upper limbs in children who were undergoing chemotherapy treatment and hospitalized with various cancer diagnoses.Methods:Two hundred thirteen (101 females, 112 males) children with childhood cancer participated in this study. The proprioception and kinesthesia senses of the upper extremities were evaluated within the hospital setting. The sense of position, which was a clinical assessment, was used to assess proprioception. The kinesthesia subtest of Sensory Integration and Praxis Test was used to evaluate the kinesthesia sense. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare mean values according to diagnostic criteria. Spearman’s coefficient of correlation was used for bivariate correlations and the statistical significance was accepted as p0.05). In proprioception scores, according to diagnosis types, the lowest score was in the carcinoma group, while the highest score was seen in lymphoma group. In terms of kinesthesia, the most affected was the lymphoma group, while the leukemia group was least. In addition, no significant relationship was found between proprioception and kinesthesia scores (p>0.05). However, a significant correlation was found between right and left extremity proprioception scores (p<0.01, r=0.50).Conclusion:This study revealed the existence of proprioception and kinesthesia deficiencies in children who received chemotherapy. Planning intervention programs for these areas and evaluating sensory parameters in detail will be useful for future studies.

Keywords

• cancer
• child
• proprioception
• kinesthesia