Position sense at the proximal interphalangeal joint is distorted in patients with rheumatoid arthritis of finger joints

Abstract

SUMMARYThe results of this investigation demonstrate, using a position matching paradigm, that the ability of subjects to detect changes in the position of the proximal interphalangeal joint is impaired in patients with rheumatoid arthritis affecting this joint. In this group there is a systematic flexion bias in position judgements compared to an age-and sex-matched control group. This bias becomes progressively more pronounced at more extended positions. These results suggest that chronic inflammatory joint disease significantly alters proprioceptive sensations at finger joints and this may be due to the loss or distortion of afferent feedback from mechanoreceptors innervating the affected joint.

Wherever is my arm? Impaired upper limb position accuracy in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

“…However, alternative methods involving repeated measurements of single joint positioning rather than the whole limb were not functionally relevant [3,5,8,10]. Furthermore, due to the design of the experiment, the data is only relevant to those with upper limb CRPS.…”

“…In addition, we wished to determine whether there was a relationship between limb position accuracy and self-perception of the affected limb. Given that vision of the limb plays an important role in updating the body schema [8,10] we aimed to establish the extent to which vision may contribute to limb positioning accuracy. By addressing these aspects we set out to provide insights into the mechanisms of limb position performance in CRPS and how this knowledge might inform clinical practice.…”

Age-related changes in the bimanual advantage and in brain oscillatory activity during tapping movements suggest a decline in processing sensory reafference

“…In contrast and as a probable consequence of the agerelated decline of kinesthetic reafferences (Diener et al 1984;Ferrell et al 1992;Madhavan and Shields 2005;Shaffer and Harrison 2007;Goble et al 2009;Wright et al 2011), there was a significant increase in beta power in the left superior parietal lobule in the elderly when both hands were used as opposed to the right hand alone. This result suggests that the motor system does not favor a tactile kinesthetic mechanism in order to control bimanual tapping movements that in turn might explain the absence of reduced bimanual variability in the elderly.…”

“…The bar graphs depict the mean activity of the beta generators at the locus of the minimal p value. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, # p = 0.07 HSD Tukey test of aging (Diener et al 1984;Ferrell et al 1992;Fitzpatrick and McCloskey 1994;Wright et al 2011). Similarly, elderly subjects have been shown to experience more difficulties while performing cycling bimanual movements when they have to rely exclusively on their intrinsic sources of sensory information (Swinnen et al 1998).…”

“…Firstly, an age-related weakening of movement-related proprioception has been reported during passive detection of motion or position occurring in the lower (Diener et al 1984;Fitzpatrick and McCloskey 1994) or the upper limbs (Ferrell et al 1992;Wright et al 2011). Since kinesthetic reafferences constitute an important source of information on the produced movements, a deficit in integrating these reafferences should likely result in enhanced motor instability.…”