Proprioception of Knee Joints with a lesion of the medial meniscus

Fromme A, Reer R, Thorwesten L, Prymka M, Jerosch J

Abstract in digital collection (conference)

Abstract

lntroduction: The present study intends to compare the proprioceptive capacities of knee joints of healthy subjects with those of patients suffering from an isolated rupture of the medial meniscus. Additionally, the effect of an elastic knee bandage on the knee joint proprioception is analysed. Materials and Methods: In order to document the proprioceptive capacities a modified technique according to Barrett et al. was applied. During the measurements four predeteimined angles were given for each leg in a randomised sequence. Each time both legs of the subjects and patients were tested with and without a knee bandage. The difference between the given angle and the angle set by the subjects was regarded as a test to measure the proprioception of the knee joint. Since a leaming effect had to be avoided the sequence of the angle values was randomised as weil as the decision whether the test was first carried out on the right or the left knee and with or without a bandage. The control group consisted of 30 healthy volunteers, the patient group of 23 persons with arthroscopically verified meniscal lesions. 13 patients with a medial meniscus rupture were examined prior to arthroscopy. 10 patients were examined after an arthroscopic partial medial meniscus resection. Postoperative examinations were performed 6 months after surgery. Results: The results of this study demonstrated that preoperatively a significant deterioration of the proprioception was present compared to the control group. We could not find any influence of the knee bandage on the proprioception of the injured knee. The postoperative group of patients showed a significant better proprioceptive capability compared to the preoperative patients. The post-operative findings did not show any difference in comparison to those of the control group. Conclusion: A clinically relevant meniscal tear impairs the proprioceptive capability of the involved knee joint. This posttraumatic proprioceptive reduction cannot be positively influenced by a knee bandage. After surgical resection a significant increase of the proprioceptive capability is evident.

Details zur Publikation

Release year: 1995
Language in which the publication is written: English