Proprioception

Where do you hold the body part

lateral aspect of digit

what do you do as the tester

move body part up or down

The term kinesthesia is sometimes used interchangeably with the term proprioception but also can be defined as awareness of joint movement. Some therapists make a distinction between these two terms and test for kinesthesia by

moving the unaffected limb into a certain posture and having the client copy the movement with the affected side while the eyes are closed.

Procedure

• Hold the lateral and medial aspects of the body part to be examined, such as the elbow, wrist, or digit.

• Move the body part into flexion or extension (Fig. 23.14), being mindful not to touch the dorsal or volar aspect of the body so as not to give tactile cues to the direction that the body part is moving.

• Repeat three times at each testing joint, randomly moving into either flexion or extension.