Osteoarthritis and Proprioception: What Does the Literature Reveal?

Abstract

to heighten or normalize joint proprioception in symptomatic cases. METHODS: All English language peer reviewed published data pertaining to the topic of osteoarthritis and proprioception were sought. Pertinent clinical studies as well as intervention studies on this topic were then reviewed systematically with respect to their findings and study conclusions and reported in narrative form. RESULTS: Although a considerable number of studies published over the last 45 years were found to support a role for impaired proprioception in the pathology of osteoarthritis, this conclusion is not universal. Moreover, even though many forms of intervention can heighten proprioception, these interventions do not always result in the desired proprioceptive improvements, especially in the presence of severe osteoarthritic dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: Further research to more definitively examine the influence of proprioception in the osteoarthritis disability cycle, and at what point intervention may be more useful than not, using agreed upon terminology, methodology, outcome attributes, and careful sampling, is indicated.

The clinical and cost effectiveness of splints for thumb base osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled clinical trial

“…We recruited predominantly white British participants attending secondary care NHS clinics and our findings may not be generalisable to community samples with milder BTOA or more ethnically diverse populations where features such as thumb hypermobility may be more prevalent [48]. We tested our placebo splints for biomechanical impact but not their impact on proprioceptive feedback mechanisms [49].. There are no agreed classification criteria for BTOA.…”