Knee Joint Mobility and Position Sense in Healthy Young Adults

Abstract

Summary Background and purpose It has been suggested that hypermobile joints may have disturbed proprioception which could compound their mechanical predisposition to injury and degeneration. Accordingly, this study investigated position sense in young adults with increased knee mobility. Methods After determining the passive limit of extension in the non-dominant knee of 44 healthy adults (35 women, 9 men, aged 18 to 29 years), five active position sense tests, each followed by an ipsilateral limb matching response, were administered within an average 13.4° of the passive extension limit. Following computer analysis of videotape images of the test and response positions, position sense accuracy was calculated as the average of the five test-response mismatches, and reliability as the standard deviation from this average. Results Although knee extension mobility and position sense were poorly correlated, analysis of variance revealed greater accuracy (1.5° versus 2.4°, p versus 2.2°, p Conclusions Actively tested, position sense accuracy and reliability were normal in young adults with asymptomatic increased knee mobility. Further studies are required to clarify the status of active position sense in subjects with symptomatic hypermobility.