Proprioception of the shoulder after stroke.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate position sense and kinesthesia of the shoulders of stroke patients.


METHODS
Case-control study.


METHODS
A rehabilitation center.


METHODS
A total of 22 inpatients with stroke and 10 healthy control subjects.


METHODS
Not applicable.


METHODS
Angular displacement (in degrees) for threshold to detection of passive motion (TDPM) tests and absolute error (in degrees) for passive reproduction of joint position tests.


RESULTS
For patients, the TDPM for internal and external rotation was significantly higher for both the contralateral (paretic) side (internal, 7.92 degrees +/-7.19 degrees ; external, 8.46 degrees +/-8.87 degrees ) and the ipsilateral (nonparetic) side (internal, 4.86 degrees +/-5.03 degrees ; external, 6.09 degrees +/-9.15 degrees ) compared with the control group (internal, 1.83 degrees +/-1.09 degrees ; external, 1.71 degrees +/-.85 degrees ). Also, for internal rotation, TDPM was significantly higher for patients on the contralateral side compared with the ipsilateral side. For passive reproduction of joint position tests, no differences were found.


CONCLUSIONS
Both the contralateral and ipsilateral shoulders of stroke patients showed impaired TDPM. Passive reproduction of joint position does not seem to be affected as a result of a stroke. The control of the muscle spindles and central integration or processing problems of the afferent signals provided by muscle spindles might cause these effects.
Niessen
Martijn H
MH
Research Institute MOVE, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.niessen@fbw.vu.nl
Veeger
Dirkjan H
DH
Koppe
Peter A
PA
Konijnenbelt
Manin H
MH
van Dieën
Jaap
J
Janssen
Thomas W
TW
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology*; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D012399:Rotation; D012785:Shoulder Joint / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology*