Abstract
Perception of limb and body positions is known as proprioception. Sensory feedback, especially from proprioceptive receptors, is essential for motor control. Aging is associated with a decline in position sense at proximal joints, but there is inconclusive evidence of distal joints being equally affected by aging. In addition, there is initial evidence that physical activity attenuates age-related decline in proprioception. Our objectives were, first, to establish wrist proprioceptive acuity in a large group of seniors and compare their perception to young adults, and second, to determine if specific types of training or regular physical activity are associated with preserved wrist proprioception. We recruited community-dwelling seniors (n = 107, mean age, 70 ± 5 years, range, 65–84 years) without cognitive decline (Mini Mental State Examination-brief version ≥13/16) and young adult students (n = 51, mean age, 20 ± 1 years, range, 19–26 years). Participants performed contralateral and ipsilateral wrist position sense matching tasks with a bimanual wrist manipulandum to a 15° flexion reference position. Systematic error or proprioceptive bias was computed as the mean difference between matched and reference position. The respective standard deviation over five trials constituted a measure of random error or proprioceptive precision. Current levels of physical activity and previous sport, musical, or dance training were obtained through a questionnaire. We employed longitudinal mixed effects linear models to calculate the effects of trial number, sex, type of matching task and age on wrist proprioceptive bias and precision. The main results were that relative proprioceptive bias was greater in older when compared to young adults (mean difference: 36% ipsilateral, 88% contralateral, p < 0.01). Proprioceptive precision for contralateral but not for ipsilateral matching was smaller in older than in young adults (mean difference: 38% contralateral, p < 0.01). Longer years of dance training were associated with smaller bias during ipsilateral matching (p < 0.01). Other types of training or physical activity levels did not affect bias or precision. Our findings demonstrate that aging is associated with a decline in proprioceptive bias in distal arm joints, but age does not negatively affect proprioceptive precision. Further, specific types of long-term dance related training may attenuate age-related decline in proprioceptive bias.
Highlights
Proprioception can be defined as one’s ability to perceive position sense and motion sense in space (Ribeiro and Olivera, 2007)
Five people were excluded from the study—two because their MMSE -2-BVTM score was 12/16, two others did not complete the proprioception assessment, and one did not complete the sensorimotor testing
Our results further suggest that the proprioceptive acuity preservation in older adults with long-term dance training is apparent for ipsilateral wrist position sense
Summary
Proprioception can be defined as one’s ability to perceive position sense and motion sense in space (Ribeiro and Olivera, 2007). Accuracy of position sense is most commonly assessed with joint position matching tasks without visual feedback. This is usually tested in two conditions: an ipsilateral remembered joint position matching task in which the individual replicates the target joint position; and a contralateral concurrent joint position matching task whereby the individual matches the target joint position with the other hand (Goble et al, 2009). Proprioception is essential in sensorimotor control for movement acuity, joint stability, motor coordination, and balance (Mourcou et al, 2015). The position sense of the shoulder joint is important during reaching (Paolucci et al, 2016). While proprioception is essential for motor control and joint stability during daily activities and sport activities (Salles et al, 2015), we still have an incomplete understanding of how proprioception differs between joints, and how such differences affect motor control and learning (Marini et al, 2016)
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