Proprioception In Rehabilitation

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 tell where they are in space and how much effort is needed in order to move something, it is important 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 the injury instead of controlling the extremity as a whole. Weak proprioception can be detrimental when a patient begins functional activities after …show more content…
Taping and bracing are beneficial because they stimulate mechanoreceptors. These mechanoreceptors recognize the skin is being stretched and compressed by the tape or brace, which allows them to be more sensitive to their surroundings. Van Tiggelen, Coorevits, and Witvrouw (2008) examined proprioception in fatigued patients who wore a neoprene sleeve. They found the sleeve enhanced proprioception in patients who were originally lacking in that area as well as when they were fatigued. This proves to be valuable because not only do braces work to prevent injuries by limiting the motion of the joints, but they enhance proprioception, which can further prohibit unforeseen injuries. Similarly, taping can be utilized much like bracing in order to increase proprioception (Burfeind & Chimera, 2015). Kinesiotape has been shown to improve proprioception in the shoulder by decreasing joint reposition sense errors with shoulder flexion and external rotation. This demonstrates the potential value of Kinesiotape on proprioception in the shoulder. Improved proprioception can possibly decrease shoulder instability which in turn can reduce the chance of injury. Patients who are overhead athletes such as volleyball, softball, and baseball players can greatly benefit from this …show more content…
There are a variety of ways to improve proprioception including taping, bracing, and exercises. It has been shown that incorporating proprioception exercises into pre-operative rehab has a similar effect that strengthening exercises do meaning it will cause the patient to have increased balance after surgery. However, it is most important to include proprioception exercises into post-operative rehab in order to reduce the chance of re-injury once the patient has returned to activities. Also, proprioception activities have been proven to help patients with osteoarthritis. These exercises can decrease pain and stiffness as well as reduce the chance of falling because of the improved balance. This is especially important the population who usually possesses this disorder since they tend to be older and have a higher chance of falls anyway. In addition, research has proven the non-dominant side of a patient tends to have better proprioception than the dominant side. This could be due to the fact the non-dominant side often stabilizes while the dominant side must use its visual feedback to complete tasks. This information is vital in trying to prevent injuries. Since the dominant side has decreased proprioception, it is more likely to become injured because the ligaments and tendons are not adapted to control the extremity if it is pushed off balanced during an activity. It is also believed increased proprioception