The effects of knee direction, physical activity and age on knee joint position sense

Relph, N; Herrington, LC

Abstract

Background: Previous research has suggested a decline in knee proprioception with age. Furthermore, regular
participation in physical activity may improve proprioceptive ability. However, there is no large scale data on uninjured
populations to confirm these theories. The aim of this study was to provide normative knee joint position
data (JPS) from healthy participants aged 18–82 years to evaluate the effects of age, physical activity and knee
direction.
Methods: A sample of 116 participants across five age groups was used. The main outcome measures were knee
JPS absolute error scores into flexion and extension, Tegner activity levels and General Practitioner Physical
Activity Questionnaire results.
Results: Absolute error scores in to knee flexion were 3.6°, 3.9°, 3.5°, 3.7° and 3.1° and knee extension were 2.7°,
2.5°, 2.9°, 3.4° and 3.9° for ages 15–29, 30–44, 45–59, 60–74 and 75 years old respectively. Knee extension and
flexion absolute error scores were significantly different when age group data were pooled. There was a significant
effect of age and activity level on joint position sense into knee extension. Age and lower Tegner scores were
also negatively correlated to joint position sense into knee extension.
Conclusions: The results provide some evidence for a decline in knee joint position sense with age. Further, active populations may have heightened static proprioception compared to inactive groups. Normative knee joint position sense data is provided and may be used by practitioners to identify patients with reduced proprioceptive
ability.

Citation

Relph, N., & Herrington, L. (2016). The effects of knee direction, physical activity and age on knee joint position sense. ˜The œKnee (Amsterdam. Online), 23(3), 393-398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.knee.2016.02.018

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 23, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Mar 21, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Apr 20, 2016
• Journal: The Knee
• Print ISSN: 0968-0160
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 393-398
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.knee.2016.02.018
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.knee.2016.02.018
• Related Public URLs: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-knee