Relationship between perception of joint position sense and limb synergies in patients with hemiplegia

The purpose of this study was to determine if patients with hemispheric brain lesions and subsequent paresis demonstrated a correlation between the perception of joint position sense and the ability to combine component parts of the limb synergies. Twenty-one adult patients with 6-week to 87-month histories of unilateral, hemispheric, paralytic brain lesions were evaluated by each of two tests. The first test evaluated the subject's ability to combine components of the limb synergies. A pilot investigation was performed which established the reliability of the testing instruments. The correlation between the perception of joint position sense and synergy test results, .83, was significant at p less than .01. Implications for therapeutic management of the patient with hemiplegia are discussed.