Prior Range of Motion Experience Improves Joint Position Sense in Internal and External Shoulder Rotation

The shoulder joint’s high mobility comes at the cost of relatively reduced stability, making accurate joint position sensing vital for functional control. Traditional joint position sensing assessments often rely on memorized target angles, limiting reflection of true proprioceptive estimation. This study investigated whether actively experiencing full range of motion (ROM) in internal and external shoulder rotation improves joint position sensing accuracy during midrange estimation. ROM exposure significantly reduced directional error (constant error) in both directions. However, estimating from total ROM increased overall error magnitude (absolute error). These results suggest that ROM familiarization recalibrates sensorimotor reference and may enhance proprioceptive precision in clinical settings.