Knee Joint Position Sense in Physically Active Patients after ACL Reconstruction

Abstract

The term “proprioception” is defined as the conduction of sensory information deriving from proprioceptors that have an impact on conscious sensations, posture and trans-segmental sense. An ACL injury may lead to functional knee joint instability. According to research, this may result in impaired movement sensation and joint position. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the joint position sense (JPS) in patients before arthroscopic ACL reconstruction and 5 months after the surgery. The examinations were conducted in a group of twelve specifically selected male patients. The examination procedure consisted of JPS measurement in both lower limbs (the operated and the healthy one) during active extension in a range of angles: 30, 45, 60°. The level of significance was: p < 0.05. The analysis of variance performed for repeated measurements (ANOVA) did not indicate any statistically significant differences of JPS in comparisons made between the operated and the healthy limb. Statistical values for the absolute, relative, and variable errors were p = 0.7684, p = 0.1546, p = 0.5694 respectively. The obtained results do not indicate any limitation of proprioception in patients with ACL injury before the intervention or half a year later.

Keywords

• anterior cruciate ligament
• joint position sense
• knee reconstruction