Method and apparatus for assessing proprioceptive status for at least one joint of a person

An apparatus for assessing the proprioceptive status of at least one joint of a person being tested,

• said apparatus comprising a chair, at least first and second movable parts articulated on each other,
• wherein each of the first and second movable parts has its own drive means, the drive means of the first movable part allowing a pivoting of the top part of the first movable part, the second movable part being connected to the bottom part of the first movable part, the drive means of the second movable part allowing a pivoting of the second movable part with respect to the first movable part, and
• wherein the apparatus has means of determining the pivot angle for each of the first and second parts,
• wherein the apparatus is configured to implement a method of assessing the proprioceptive status for at least one joint of a person being tested, this status being assessed in stataesthesia and/or in kinaesthesia, comprising:
• providing an apparatus for assessing said proprioceptive status,
• imposing a pivoting movement on the joint of the person being tested, which is at least one of (i) in kinaesthesia, followed by obtaining from the person an indication that the movement has been perceived or stopped, and (ii) in stataesthesia, after stopping the movement imposed when a predetermined target value of at least one parameter of the movement has been reached, followed by obtaining reproduction of the movement by the person,
• measuring an estimated value of the parameter of the movement corresponding to at least one of, (i) in kinaesthesia, the parameter that is current when said movement has begun to be perceived by the person and (ii) in stataesthesia, the end-of-movement parameter that the person considers that the person has reproduced,
• calculating an absolute error corresponding to at least one of, (i) in kinaesthesia, the difference between the starting target value of the movement and the estimated value of the start of perception of the movement by the person, and (ii) in stataesthesia, the absolute difference between the target end-of-movement value imposed and the value estimated by person for the end-of-movement reproduced,
• carrying out repetitions of the imposing, measuring and calculating according to a predetermined number having been provided, for the same target value of the pivoting parameter,
• calculating a variable error for each estimated value during repetitions, this variable error taking into account the variations in the absolute errors recording during repetitions,
• wherein the variable error Ev for a given absolute error Ea is calculated according to the equation:
• Ev=√{square root over ((Ea−MOYEa))}2
• with MoyEa being a value that is a function of the absolute errors of all the repetitions and wherein a proprioceptive score Sp is calculated representing the proprioceptive status of the person tested from the absolute and variable errors, said score being defined by
• Sp=MedEa+MoyEv
• where MedEa is the averaged value of the absolute errors of the repetitions and MoyEv is the averaged value of the variable errors of the repetitions, the proprioceptive scores of the person tested thus obtained being associated with an assessment time for use as a reference when the person tested is monitored or when the person tested is compared with at least one other person.