Objective: The aim of this study was to compare patients diagnosed as having knee osteoarthritis (OA) with healthy people of the same age group with respect to the level of proprioceptive sense. 

Materials and Methods: Twenty-nine female patients with stage I and II primary OA and 20 healthy female subjects were included in the study. Measurements of the sensation of proprioception were carried out in both knee joints at 10 separate angles using the reproduction method. The Average Absolute Angular Error (AAAE) values that were inversely proportional to the level of proprioceptive sense were calculated. 

Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the patient group with OA and the control group with respect to age and body mass index (BMI) (p>0.05). According to the proprioception measurement result, the AAAE values for the right knee were significantly higher in the patient group with OA compared to the control group (p<0.05). Although the AAAE values in the left knee were also higher in the patient group than in the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.154). There was a moderately positive significant correlation between the right and left knee with respect to AAAE value (p<0.01, r=0.61).

Conclusion: Compared with control subjects of the same age and BMI, proprioceptive sense acuity is decreased in patients with knee OA. However, this difference is statistically significant only in the dominant leg. Therefore, this finding suggests that in knee OA proprioceptive sense impairment primarily affects the dominant leg.