Proprioception – a critical element to your patient’s home exercise plan. Without proprioception a dog is unlikely to be successful at loading a limb, strengthening and increasing ROM.
A quick refresher in the sub modalities of proprioception – Proprioception is the sense of joint / limb positioning. Joint position sense determines the ability to perceive a presented joint angle and then, after the limb has been moved, to actively or passively reproduces the same joint angle.
Kinaesthesia is the awareness of motion. Sense of movement refers to the ability to appreciate joint movement, including the duration, direction, amplitude, speed, acceleration and timing of movements.
Sense of Force is also known as sense of effort / heaviness / tension or the force matching sense. It is the ability to reproduce (or match) a desired level of force one or more times. Sense of force is thought to stem from the afferent feedback of the Golgi Tendon Organs (GTOs) embedded within the tendons, the muscle spindles within the muscles and proprioceptors within the skin.
Sense of Change in Velocity is the ability to detect vibration, derived from oscillating objects placed against the skin. It is believed to travel through the same type of large afferent nerve fibers (Aαβ) as proprioception.
Globally, all sub-modalities of proprioception arise from the sum of neural inputs from the joint capsules, ligaments, muscles, tendons, and skin, in a multifaceted system, which influences behaviour regulation and motor control of the body. (Proprioception – Physiopedia (physio-pedia.com)
Conditioning Your Canine has a huge library of home exercise videos to help your patient increase their proprioception and consequently helping you reach your rehabilitation goals!
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