Assessing proprioception in children with upper motor neuron lesions: feasibility, validity, and reliability of the proprioception measurement tool.
Petra Marsico, Lea Meier, Anke Buchmann and 4 others
PMID 39185005WHAT IT FOUND
A new sensor-based tool can reliably measure lower limb proprioception in children with upper motor neuron lesions.
It distinguishes these children from typically developing peers, though the joint movement sense component is less precise than position sense.
Key findings
01Children with upper motor neuron lesions had significantly lower proprioceptive function than typically developing peers across all tests and joints.
02Test-retest reliability was moderate to high for hip, knee, and ankle position sense, with error margins generally below 10 degrees.
03The joint movement sense component showed lower absolute reliability, with error margins exceeding 10 degrees, making it less suitable for detecting small changes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study included a high proportion of children with mild motor impairments (GMFCS Level I), so results may not generalize to children with severe disabilities. The joint movement sense (JMS) component had poor absolute reliability, meaning it may not detect small changes in an individual child's function. Criterion positions varied between participants and test sessions, which could influence reliability. The sample size for inter-rater reliability was small (16 children), limiting confidence in those specific findings.
Declared interests
The study was supported by a grant from the Anna Müller Grocholski foundation. The authors declared no other conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the joint movement sense (JMS) scores to track small changes in individual patients. The error margin for this component was larger than 10 degrees, meaning typical therapy-induced improvements might fall within the noise of the test, unlike the more precise position sense measures.