Maintaining upright posture is a complex task requiring the integration of afferent information from the visual, somatosensory and
vestibular systems.
Proprioception, one of the senses supported by the somatosensory system, is essential to carry out the corrective
motions needed to maintain balance. Indeed,
a decrease in proprioceptive accuracy has been related to balance deficits and an
increased risk of falling. Ballet dancers have been shown to integrate
proprioceptive signals more strongly and rely more on
proprioception than non-dancers, while proprioceptive acuity has been shown to be impaired in knee
osteoarthritis (KOA) patients.
However, the dissimilarities arising from differences in proprioceptive acuity and integration at the level of the cerebral
cortex are
unknown. Thus, this project aims to characterize objective neurophysiological markers of efficient proprioceptive integration. In the
long
term, this could help implement and optimize strategies to attenuate the decline in proprioception in pathological populations.

Collbaoration : Scott
Mongold, Marc Vander Ghinst, Gilles Naeije