Further evidence of impaired position sense in knee osteoarthritis

The knee joint position sense of a control group of healthy women was compared with that of women diagnosed as having severe osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Movements monitored were multi-joint when weightbearing on one leg. All subjects completed two angle rematching tests on two separate test occasions, and the criterion and reproduction angles which lay in the range of 15-45 degrees knee flexion were recorded photographically on each occasion. The results showed that the OA group performed the rematching tests with less accuracy than the controls (p < 0.05). Additionally, the OA group displayed significantly higher average flexion error magnitudes than the controls. These results suggest that joint position sense is less accurate and may be systematically distorted during multi-joint movements of the affected legs of a high proportion of women with severe knee OA. They further suggest that to improve their functional performance, patients with knee OA probably require a carefully constructed sensorimotor rehabilitation programme in which pain, effusion and fatigue are minimised.