The influence of below-knee compression garments on knee-joint proprioception

Objective: The purpose of the study was to assess the influence of below-knee compression garments on proprioception accuracy under, information processing constraints designed to cause high or low conscious attention to the task. Methods: In a counterbalanced, single-blinded, crossover trial, 44 healthy participants (26 male/18 female) with a mean age of 22.7 +/- 6.9 years performed an active joint repositioning task using their nondominant and their dominant leg, with and without below-knee compression and with and without conducting a secondary task. Results: Analysis of variance revealed no main effect of leg dominance and no interactions (p's > 0.05). However, a main effect was evident for both compression (F-1, (43) = 84.23, p < 0.001, eta p(2) = 0.665) and secondary task (F-1, (43) = 4.391, p = 0.04, eta p(2) = 0.093). Conclusions: The study is the first to evaluate the effects of a belowknee compression garment on knee proprioception under differential information processing constraints. We conclude that proprioception accuracy of the knee joint is significantly enhanced post application of below-knee compression garments and when a secondary task is conducted concurrently with active joint repositioning. The findings suggest that below-knee compression garments may improve proprioception of the knee, regardless of leg dominance, and that secondary tasks that direct attention away from proprioceptive judgments may also improve proprioception, regardless of the presence of compression. Clinical implications are discussed with respect to proprioception in modern. sports and rehabilitation settings. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.