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Changes of knee proprioception in patients with knee osteoarthritis undergoing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty
Bojian Yang1, Jingnan Shi2, Haohua Zhang3
1School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.
Objective:
Proprioception, encompassing position sense, kinesthesia, and force sense, is crucial for maintaining joint stability. While prior studies suggest improved knee proprioception in knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients following unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA), assessments were limited to position sense or kinesthesia alone, failing to comprehensively evaluate proprioceptive changes. This study aimed to investigate the effects of UKA on all three proprioceptive components in KOA patients.
Methods:
Seventy KOA patients and 29 healthy controls were recruited, with 36 patients undergoing UKA. Sixteen and 12 patients were measured at the 3-month and 6-month follow-up postoperatively. Proprioception (position sense at 30°, 45°, and 60 °, kinesthesia, and force sense) was assessed preoperatively and postoperatively at 3 and 6 months.
Results:
Preoperatively, KOA patients exhibited significantly impaired position sense, kinesthesia, and force sense in both operated and contralateral knees compared to controls (p < 0.05). At 3 months postoperatively, position sense at 30°, kinesthesia and force sense in contralateral knee improved significantly (p < 0.05). Operated knee kinesthesia also improved (p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed between 3 and 6 months postoperatively.
Conclusions:
KOA patients demonstrate reduced proprioception compared to healthy individuals. Postoperative improvements in proprioception, particularly in the contralateral knee, were evident at 3 months but plateaued by 6 months, underscoring the need for targeted proprioceptive rehabilitation post-UKA.
