Association of Age, Gender and Body Mass Index with Proprioception in Knee Joint in Healthy Individuals

Background: The word proprioception is derived from Latin word “proprius” means it is one’s own and “reception” means it receives. In Musculoskeletal rehabilitation, proprioception plays significant role in maintaining normal motor control. The proprioception is an important non-invasive clinical procedure which helps in diagnosing pre-existing and treating knee conditions. Proprioception assessment is foremost because loss in proprioception will lead to altered weight bearing at joints and alteration of normal body movement causing fall or injury. Purpose of this study is to find out the association of knee joint proprioception with age, gender and BMI in healthy individuals. Methods: Total 132 participants are included in the study. Their height and weight was measured to calculate their BMI. After that, proprioception was assessed with the help of goniometer mounted on the stand. Knee joint proprioception was measured for Test angles 30°, 45° and 60° toward extension. At all angles test was performed three times in sequence. Result: The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software version 21.0. At 30° correlations between both side of knee joint proprioception with Age, Gender and BMI was non-significant except left side of proprioception with gender. However, at 45° correlations between both side of knee joint proprioception with Age, Gender and BMI was found significant. Additionally, similar of most result was found at 60° except left side of knee joint proprioception was found not significant with BMI. Conclusion: Knee joint proprioception decreases with ageing and are more in females than males. This study finds weak to moderate correlation with BMI.