Proprioception is often overlooked in the rehabilitation or rehab process. However, it is vitally important in order to restore normal function to an injured body part. Since proprioception is a person’s ability to coordinate movements and determine how much effort is needed in order to move something, it is critical to practice these types of movements in rehab before returning the patient to activities. Once an injury occurs, the body will protect itself and begin to shut down in certain aspects. This can cause a patient’s proprioception to fail because the body is more worried about controlling and resolving the injury instead of controlling the extremity as a whole. Weak proprioception can be detrimental when a patient begins functional
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When performing this type of therapy, the central nervous system receives impulses from the joint and tendon mechanoreceptors. Active joint repositioning training, muscle performance training, and balance/unstable surface training are a few different ways proprioception can be improved with therapy. Active joint repositioning training involves moving the patient’s extremity to a desired angle. Then, the patient attempts to replicate the angle with either eyes open or eyes closed. A weight could be added to the end of the extremity in order to challenge the patient further. Muscle performance training is essentially specific types of strengthening activities, such as body squats or four way shoulder Theraband activities, which increase proprioception because the patient must determine the necessary amount of force to move the extremity or the entire body. Balance/unstable surface training seems to be the most popular way to improve proprioception. It focuses on maintaining the patient’s center of gravity within the base of the body. Examples would include standing on a wobble board or DynaDisc with both feet, in a tandem position, or on a single leg while having eyes closed or throwing a ball at a …show more content…
Since the pain of osteoarthritis can be rather disruptive to a person’s everyday activities, it is important to know the best way to alleviate the pain and keep it in check for a longer period of time without employing medication. Proprioception exercises have been proven to relieve some joint pain and stiffness in the knee of patient’s with osteoarthritis. In a study comparing two groups who applied differing rehabilitation protocols, both WOMAC pain and stiffness scale numbers significantly decreased in the groups from the baseline scores to the end of the eight week trial. Nevertheless, the proprioception patients were the only ones to see diminished pain at the one year follow up and only had a minute increase in stiffness whereas the strengthening group saw both scores increase after one year. Providing a patient is compliant with their exercises, proprioception can have a longer lasting effect on osteoarthritis pain than strengthening alone, which conveys how important proprioception is not just to prevent injuries, but to relieve pain associated with aging. Also, increased proprioception could reduce the chance of falling for the elder population who are more likely to have this disorder. Knowing where the extremity is in space and being able to tell how much force is needed to do something, such as walk up or
When performing this type of therapy, the central nervous system receives impulses from the joint and tendon mechanoreceptors. Active joint repositioning training, muscle performance training, and balance/unstable surface training are a few different ways proprioception can be improved with therapy. Active joint repositioning training involves moving the patient’s extremity to a desired angle. Then, the patient attempts to replicate the angle with either eyes open or eyes closed. A weight could be added to the end of the extremity in order to challenge the patient further. Muscle performance training is essentially specific types of strengthening activities, such as body squats or four way shoulder Theraband activities, which increase proprioception because the patient must determine the necessary amount of force to move the extremity or the entire body. Balance/unstable surface training seems to be the most popular way to improve proprioception. It focuses on maintaining the patient’s center of gravity within the base of the body. Examples would include standing on a wobble board or DynaDisc with both feet, in a tandem position, or on a single leg while having eyes closed or throwing a ball at a …show more content…
Since the pain of osteoarthritis can be rather disruptive to a person’s everyday activities, it is important to know the best way to alleviate the pain and keep it in check for a longer period of time without employing medication. Proprioception exercises have been proven to relieve some joint pain and stiffness in the knee of patient’s with osteoarthritis. In a study comparing two groups who applied differing rehabilitation protocols, both WOMAC pain and stiffness scale numbers significantly decreased in the groups from the baseline scores to the end of the eight week trial. Nevertheless, the proprioception patients were the only ones to see diminished pain at the one year follow up and only had a minute increase in stiffness whereas the strengthening group saw both scores increase after one year. Providing a patient is compliant with their exercises, proprioception can have a longer lasting effect on osteoarthritis pain than strengthening alone, which conveys how important proprioception is not just to prevent injuries, but to relieve pain associated with aging. Also, increased proprioception could reduce the chance of falling for the elder population who are more likely to have this disorder. Knowing where the extremity is in space and being able to tell how much force is needed to do something, such as walk up or