Position sense of the hemiparetic and non-hemiparetic ankle after stroke: is the non-hemiparetic ankle also affected?
OBJECTIVE
Researchers have shown an increased interest in proprioception deficits of the paretic side in hemiplegic patients. However, far too little attention has been paid to the proprioception sense of the non-hemiparetic side. The objective of this research was to determine whether the position sense of the ankles, especially of the non-paretic side, is affected in stroke patients.


METHODS
20 inpatients with stroke and 10 healthy control subjects were evaluated using an isokinetic dynamometer. Proprioceptive error scores (in degrees) for passive reproduction of joint position tests (PRJPTs) were measured.


RESULTS
Error values of PRJPT for 5° plantarflexion, 10° plantarflexion, and 15° dorsiflexion were significantly higher in patients on both the paretic and non-paretic side compared with the control group dominant side.


CONCLUSIONS
The impaired results of PRJPT in both the paretic and non-paretic ankles of stroke patients are surprising when one expects that the non-paretic side would be preserved under the control of the healthy hemisphere.
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Training and Research Hospital of the Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey. elifyalcin78@gmail.com
Elif
E
Yalcin
Mufit
M
Akyuz
Burcu
B
Onder
Aydan
A
Kurtaran
Sıdıka
S
Buyukvural
Sibel
S
Ozbudak Demir
D000368:Aged; D000842:Ankle / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology*; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation