Enhancing Knee Joint Proprioception in Healthy Adults Through Exergame Training With Augmented Feedback: Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.
Yiling Zhang, Luis Felipe García Arias, Hans Timmerman and 2 others
PMID 41747255WHAT IT FOUND
Healthy adults using an exergame with sound feedback improved knee position accuracy more than those using visual feedback alone.
However, participants could see their legs during testing, so the study proves better motor learning, not necessarily improved proprioception.
Key findings
01Adding auditory feedback to a knee exergame resulted in statistically significant improvements in squat and stretch positioning accuracy compared to visual feedback alone.
02The improvement was observed in a single session among healthy young adults, with the experimental group showing positive error reduction and the control group showing negative change.
03Participants were not blindfolded during the assessment, meaning the observed gains may reflect improved visual-motor coordination rather than enhanced proprioceptive sense.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was extremely small (14 participants) and consisted only of healthy university students and researchers, limiting generalizability to clinical populations. Participants were not blindfolded during pre- and posttests, so the study cannot distinguish between improved proprioception and improved visual-motor accuracy. The intervention lasted only a single day, providing no data on long-term retention or the effects of repeated training. Blinding was impossible due to the nature of the feedback, introducing potential bias in subjective measures. The specific contribution of proprioceptive training versus general motor learning is unclear because vision was not occluded during assessment.
Declared interests
None declared. The study was conducted at the University of Groningen.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that exergames improve proprioception in patients. The assessment allowed vision, so the results show improved visual-motor accuracy in healthy adults, not necessarily a restoration of joint position sense in a clinical context.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →