Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA
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Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc · Jan 1999
Proprioception in the posterior cruciate ligament deficient knee.
This study was undertaken to evaluate knee proprioception in patients with isolated unilateral posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injuries. Eighteen subjects with isolated PCL tears were studied 1-234 months after injury. The threshold to detect passive motion (TTDPM) was used to evaluate kinesthesia and the ability to passively reproduce passive positioning (RPP) to test joint position sense. ⋯ No difference was identified in the TTDPM starting at 110 degrees or in RPP with the presented angle at 45 degrees moving into flexion or extension. These subtle but statistically significant findings suggest that proprioceptive mechanoreceptors may play a clinical role in PCL-intact and PCL-deficient patients. Further, it appears that kinesthesia and joint position sense may function through different mechanisms.