The Role of Conscious and Unconscious Proprioceptive Sensation in Unstable Postural Balance: A Cross-Sectional Study

Proprioception is the capacity to perceive the position of any body part, either consciously or unconsciously. This sense, in conjunction with the visual and vestibular senses, helps maintain postural balance. This study explores the relationship between postural balance analysis outcomes and proprioceptive sense tractography data.

Sixty-two healthy individuals were categorized into two groups based on postural balance analysis: the unstable posture group and the stable posture group. Postural sway test measurements, such as sway area, track length, velocity, Romberg quotient, lateral sway, and anteroposterior sway, were recorded for both groups on fixed and moving surfaces over 20 seconds. Using the DSI Studio program, tractography of the proprioceptive sensory pathways was conducted on participants using brain diffusion tensor images (DTI). IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.0 software was employed for statistical analysis, with a p-value <0.05 considered statistically significant.

Tractography of the unstable posture group revealed increased mean diffusivity (MD) and radial diffusivity (RD) in the brain white matter, superior cerebellar peduncle, and middle cerebellar peduncle, while axial diffusivity (AD) values decreased (p<0.05). There was a notable correlation between the sway area in the unstable and eyes-open positions and the fiber count and fiber percentage in the right inferior cerebellar peduncle.

The data suggest impairments in the pathways responsible for carrying unconscious proprioceptive sensations in individuals with unstable posture.