Effects of short-term cycling on knee joint proprioception in ACL-deficient patients

It has previously been shown that knee injuries with ACL ruptures may lead to decreased proprioception and that exercise in a normal population, uninjured individuals, may reduce the proprioceptive ability. How proprioception is affected by exercise in patients with ACL deficiency has, to our knowledge, not been studied before. Knee joint proprioception was estimated in 36 patients, 18 males and 18 females, with ACL deficiency by measuring thresholds for detection of slow passive motion before and after a short period of exercise on an ergometer bicycle. In addition, the results were compared with a control group of 24 individuals of the same age. We found trends of enhanced proprioception towards extension in the patient group after cycling, but not in the control group. Towards flexion, both groups showed poorer proprioception after cycling. When difference scores of proprioceptive change in each group were compared, a trend towards different reaction upon cycling between the groups was seen in measurement towards extension from 20 degrees where the patients seemed to improve proprioception, which the controls did not. The results are not conclusive in this pilot study, but the possibility that ACL-deficient patients and controls may not react likewise to cycling, as regards their proprioceptive ability, is discussed.