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Is There a Difference in Hip Joint Position Sense Between Young and Older Groups?

¹ School of Physiotherapy, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia.
² MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, Massachusetts.
³ The Centre for Musculoskeletal Studies, Department of Surgery, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia.

Background. Joint position sense (JPS) in the knee has been shown by many authors to decline with age. It has been speculated that this decrease contributes to abnormal joint mechanics during load-bearing activities and putatively results in joint degeneration. Surprisingly little research has been conducted on the human hip to determine benchmarks for normal JPS.

Method. Fifty-nine community dwelling subjects, 30 young (mean age 21.7 years) and 29 older (mean age 75 years), were recruited to determine normal reference ranges for the effect of age on hip JPS. Active and passive repositioning tasks were performed in inner and outer ranges of the hip abduction plane of movement. An electromagnetic tracking system was used to obtain accurate error measurements of the angular displacement.

Results. Results indicated no difference in hip JPS between the young and older subjects (). However, it was found that for both age groups, accurate reproduction of position at the hip joint occurred in the inner range (). For both groups, active repositioning was more accurate than passive ().

Conclusions. In this study, no difference in hip JPS was found between young and older subjects. Accuracy was greater in the inner range, with active repositioning demonstrating higher precision compared to passive repositioning of the limb.