Measuring upper limb active joint position sense: Introducing a new clinical tool - The Upper Limb Proprioception...

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Neuroscience
• Clinical Measurement

Background:

• Proprioception, the sense of body awareness, includes active joint position sense (AJPS), crucial for joint stability and movement.
• Accurate clinical measurement of upper limb AJPS remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the Upper Limb Proprioception Reaching Test (PRO-Reach) for discriminant validity, intra-rater, and absolute reliability.
• To assess a novel clinical tool for measuring active joint position sense in the upper limb.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 75 healthy participants with repeated measurements for reliability.
• Discriminant validity was assessed using a dominant shoulder fatigue protocol in 20 participants.
• Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) and minimal detectable change (MDC) were calculated.

Main Results:

• The PRO-Reach demonstrated moderate to excellent reliability, particularly for inferior targets (ICC up to 0.90).
• Within-day reliability for overall scores was strong (ICC = 0.77).
• A significant fatigue effect was observed for superior and superior-lateral targets.

Conclusions:

• The PRO-Reach exhibits strong reliability, especially for inferior targets and overall scores.
• The tool shows potential for clinical application in assessing upper limb AJPS, pending further testing in patient populations.