Investigation of the Effects of Estrogen and Progesterone Hormones on Active Knee Joint Position Sense in Healthy Women in Different Phases of a Menstrual Cycle

Abstract The proprioceptive system is actually a sensory system based on an individual’s knowledge of the body. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of estrogen and progesterone hormones on understanding and to recognize the proprioceptive sense the knee joint in healthy women during the menstrual cycle. Fifteen healthy women with regular menstrual cycles participated in this study. The estrogen and progesterone levels were evaluated during a cycle in the follicular, ovulation, and luteal phases. The effect on the sense of perception and cognition of the proprioceptive knee joint in two directions (extension and flexion), by target angle reconstruction at 30° was studied. The results showed that female sex hormones affect the knee active Joint Position Sense (JPS). In the extensions, the changes of the menstrual cycle affect the JPS in constant error during the ovulation phase. In the flexion, changes in the menstrual cycle affect the JPS in constant, absolute, and variable error during the luteal phase. The findings of this study show that the menstruation phases can change the active JPS at knee joint. Since the outbreak of joint problems, especially in the knee joint, is higher in women than in men, it was predicted that hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle affect the proprioceptive cognition of the knee joint, which in turn increases the percentage of knee injuries in women.