Knee joint proprioception in patients with ACL tears

In 30 healthy volunteers with clinically inconspicuous knee joints the proprioception of the knee joint was evaluated by an angle reproduction test. With the same set-up we documented the effect of an elastic knee bandage. We could not document airy differences between the left and the right knee joint or between men and women, but at the mid-range of motion, proprioception was worse compared to the end range of motion. The applied elastic knee bandage significantly improved the position sense. Additionally 25 patients with an isolated rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament were evaluated. Fourteen patients were examined preoperatively, 11 after operative ACL reconstruction. Preoperatively proprioception was significantly poorer than in the control group. We were able to show a positive infuence of a knee bandage on the proprioception of the injured knee as well. Patients after ACL reconstruction showed no significantly better proprioception than the preoperative group.