Enhancing human position sense through tactile stimulation

Abstract

This study investigated whether wearing an elbow compression sleeve enhances upper-limb position sense and examined differences between two common measurement methods. Twenty healthy participants performed a one-arm pointing task at five test angles (10°, 35°, 60°, 85°, 110°) with and without compression, and a one-arm repositioning task at 60° without compression. Absolute and signed position errors were were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models. Wearing a compression sleeve did not significantly reduce absolute position errors overall, though descriptive results and angle-specific interactions suggested modest improvements at smaller and mid-range angles. Compression also induced systematic directional biases that differed by arm dominance. Comparing methods, repositioning yielded significantly smaller absolute errors. Pointing exhibited a consistent extension bias. The results suggest that while compression garments do not robustly enhance position sense, they may subtly influence sensory processing depending on test angle and arm dominance. Furthermore, the findings align with theoretical accounts proposing that pointing involves spatial transformations that introduce systematic errors, whereas repositioning relies on stable memory traces of joint angles. The study provides evidence of task-specific processing differences and directional biases in position sense, offering guidance for improving assessment methods and informing future research on tactile interventions to support sensorimotor function.