Anatomical correlates of proprioceptive impairments following acute stroke: A case series

Proprioceptive impairments were observed in 7 of 12 subjects. Thalamic lesions (n = 4) were associated with position sense (n = 1) or position sense and kinesthesia (n = 1) impairments. Posterior limb of the internal capsule lesions (n = 4) were associated with primarily position sense (n = 1) or kinesthesia (n = 2) impairments. Lesions affecting primary somatosensory cortex and posterior parietal cortex (n = 2) were associated with significant position sense and kinesthesia impairments. All subjects with damage to hypothesized structures displayed impairments with performance on the visually guided reaching task. Across the proprioceptive tasks, we saw that position sense and kinesthesia were impaired to differing degrees, suggesting a potential dissociation between these two components of proprioception.