The Effect of a Neoprene Sleeve on Knee Joint Position Sense

Abstract

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.

Reliability and Precision of Hip Proprioception Methods in Healthy Individuals

“…The caveat of such an attachment may be that large areas of contact in 64 general may enhance proprioception consistent with the use of bracing. 8,9,41,87,88,129 The large pneumatic sleeve attached to the subject's leg may therefore have provided enough external stimuli to alter the subject's natural internal proprioception through cutaneous mechanoreceptor stimulation. This issue has been documented in the literature.…”

Performance of Healthy Braced Participants During Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity Tasks

“…Several authors suggested that participants with ACL-deficient or ACL-reconstructed knee joints lack a certain amount of proprioceptive input to the central nervous system. 62 Researchers [62][63][64] also have illustrated that alterations in proprioceptive feedback (in participants with ACL-deficient and ACL-reconstructed knees) as a result of bracing might be partly responsible for performance improvement. Given this central nervous system relearning philosophy, if we apply this concept to a noninjured ("normal" proprioceptive) knee joint, perhaps the noninjured BR participants experienced altered proprioceptive feedback and therefore were able to perform with greater perceived knee joint stability and confidence with continued brace use.…”

“…63 Our study design could have included rest periods between testing sessions within each condition; however, because our goal was to measure possible accommodation to FKB use, successive testing sessions were needed. Furthermore, the chosen study design allowed an assessment of muscular fatigue during FKB use because researchers 6,61 have suggested that fatigue is a negative factor in dynamic muscle control that can lead to a knee ligament injury.…”

Process for Applying the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Model to a Patient With Patellar Dislocation

“…Because of the environmental factor of the patient needing to walk for daily transportation in snowy and icy conditions, she was encouraged to wear the neoprene sleeve and use proper footwear when walking outside. 16 The patient's personal factors of being recreationally active and knowledgeable about her condition made these restrictions and precautions easy for her to agree upon.…”