The aims of the study were, first, to assess the effect of a neoprene knee brace on proprioceptive acuity of normal subjects and, second, to assess the relationships between a variety of tests of proprioceptive acuity. Twenty healthy, physically active subjects had absolute error scores measured while carrying out three different established tests of proprioceptive ability (active tracking, active reproduction, and perceived angle tests) under two conditions, either with or without the presence of a neoprene sleeve. The neoprene sleeve significantly improved the degree of error scores in all tests. For the active tracking, test accuracy was improved by 28% (p = 0.004), the angle reproduction test showed a 23% increase in accuracy (p = 0.029), and the accuracy of the perceived angle test improved by 27% (p = 0.035). The relationship between magnitude of error scores between the test all showed nonsignificant low correlation.

Clinical pulmonary rehabilitation programmes are effective for most patients. However for patients with more severe impairment, maximal gains may be harder, or take longer, to achieve. Patients with restrictive disease appear to do well, although future trials will be needed to test this supposition.