Article

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate whether position sense acuity of the upper
extremity and tracking performance, pen pressure and muscle activity in a tracking task are affected in subjects with neck and upper extremity pain.
Twenty-three subjects with neck and upper extremity pain and 26 healthy
controls participated in the study. Position sense acuity of the upper extremity
was measured while subjects pointed at targets, without vision of their arm and
hand. In the computer tracking task, subjects were instructed to position a
cursor within a moving target dot, using a pen on a tablet. RESULTS: Position
sense acuity of the upper extremity was impaired in subjects with pain. Their
variable error was 20-30% larger than in healthy controls. Subjects with pain
also showed reduced tracking precision. Both the mean and the standard deviation
of the distance to target were significantly larger in subjects with pain than in
healthy controls, 10% and 13% respectively. No differences between groups were
found in pen pressure and muscle activity during tracking. CONCLUSION: The
results suggest that subjects with pain are limited in performing precision tasks
due to impaired position sense of the upper extremity, but do not compensate with
increased effort.

Langue : ANGLAIS