Proprioception After Spine Injury and Surgery

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Abstract

Proprioception is one of the components of somatosensory system and is essential for postural stabilization, movement acuity, and balance. Spinal proprioception has a specific significance on postural control due to cervical proprioception’s unique interactions with visio-vestibular system, and trunk’s role on dynamic and static stabilization of the body. Spinal proprioception can be disrupted as a result of trauma, pain disorders, stenosis, deformities, and/or spinal surgery.

Clinical assessment of proprioception includes specific measurements of kinesthesia, joint position sense, and force sense, as well as nonspecific measurements of the balance of the body.

Altered proprioception leads to poor balance, decrease in motor precision, increased risk of trauma, impaired head and eye movement control, and in the long term musculoskeletal disturbances. Management of proprioceptive disturbances includes physical therapies such as joint position exercises, oculo-cervical programming, and vibration training. Although spinal surgery is considered an etiological factor in proprioception disturbances, surgical restoration of spinal proprioception is also a subject currently under investigation.

Keywords

Proprioception Spinal surgery Balance Kinesthesia Spine Somatosensory system 
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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of MedicineAcibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar UniversityIstanbulTurkey
  2. 2.Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, School of MedicineAcibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar UniversityIstanbulTurkey

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