Disrupted proprioceptive timing estimates contribute to upper limb motor impairment in chronic stroke, with larger proprioceptive timing errors strongly correlated with poor performance on visually-guided reaching and arm position matching tasks.
Key Findings
Results
Individuals with chronic stroke showed significantly greater proprioceptive timing errors compared to controls.
Stroke participants also showed greater variability in proprioceptive timing (p < 0.01) than controls
The task assessed proprioceptive timing without requiring active motor output from the tested limb
This indicates impaired proprioceptive timing as a sensory deficit independent of motor output demands
Results
Larger proprioceptive timing errors were strongly correlated with poor visually-guided reaching (VGR) performance in individuals with stroke.
Correlation between proprioceptive timing errors and VGR performance: ρ > 0.57, p < 0.01
This suggests that sensory timing deficits contribute to impaired coordinated movement
The correlation was specific to the stroke population
Results
Larger proprioceptive timing errors were strongly correlated with poor arm position matching (APM) performance in individuals with stroke.
Correlation between proprioceptive timing errors and APM performance: ρ > 0.49, p < 0.01
APM measures static estimation of limb position
This indicates that dynamic proprioceptive timing deficits are linked to impaired static limb position sense
Results
The estimation of timing for dynamic sensory signals is disrupted in individuals with stroke and likely contributes to dysfunction in both coordinated movement and static limb position estimation.
Proprioceptive timing deficits were observed in a task not requiring active motor output, isolating the sensory component
Deficits were associated with impairments in both dynamic motor tasks (VGR) and static position sense (APM)
Findings suggest proprioceptive timing disruption as a distinct mechanism contributing to upper limb motor impairment post-stroke
What This Means
This research suggests that people who have had a stroke have difficulty accurately sensing the timing of movement in their arms — a sense called proprioception. Proprioception is the body's ability to sense where its limbs are and how they are moving without looking at them. The study found that stroke survivors made larger errors and were more inconsistent when estimating the timing of sensory signals in their arm compared to people without stroke, even when the arm being tested did not need to actively move during the task.
Importantly, the research found that people who had worse proprioceptive timing also performed worse on two common measures of arm function: a visually-guided reaching task and an arm position matching task. These strong statistical links suggest that sensory timing problems — not just muscle weakness or coordination issues — play a meaningful role in why stroke survivors struggle with everyday arm movements.
This matters because rehabilitation after stroke often focuses heavily on motor training, but these findings suggest that targeting how the brain processes the timing of sensory information could also be an important part of recovery. Understanding that impaired sensing of dynamic movement contributes to both coordinated motion and the ability to judge where the arm is at rest could open new avenues for more targeted stroke rehabilitation strategies.
Austin D, Eimont A, Semrau J. (2026). Disrupted proprioceptive timing estimates contribute to upper limb motor impairment in chronic stroke.. Experimental brain research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-026-07378-8