Relationship between lower extremity sensation, physical activity, cognition, body awareness, and fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease causing sensory and motor impairments due to central nervous system demyelination. Sensory feedback, essential for balance and gait, is often disrupted in people with MS (PwMS). However, its relationship with fatigue, physical activity, cognitive function, and body awareness remains unclear.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between plantar sensation, knee position sense, and clinical factors in PwMS compared to healthy controls (HC).

Methods: Thirty-three PwMS and 11 HC participated in this study. Foot sensations including light touch threshold, two-point discrimination, vibration duration, and knee position sense were assessed. In addition, physical activity level, cognitive function, body awareness, and fatigue were assessed as clinical factors.

Results: No significant differences were found between PwMS and HC in most sensory measures, except for body awareness, which was higher in HC (p:0.029). In PwMS, light touch thresholds correlated with age (r = 0.454, p = 0.008), vibration duration with walking and physical activity levels (r = 0.392-0.396, p < 0.05), two-point discrimination with EDSS score (r = 0.474, p = 0.005), knee position sense with EDSS (r = 0.385, p = 0.027) and cognitive function (r = 0.382, p = 0.028). In HC, vibration duration correlated negatively with age (r=-0.834, p:0.001), and knee position sense correlated with body mass index (r = 0.764, p:0.006) and cognitive function (r = 0.609-0.736, p < 0.05).

Conclusion: These findings highlight the relationship between sensory function and clinical factors in PwMS, emphasizing the importance of age, disability level, physical activity, and cognitive function in preserving the sensory functions of the lower extremity.

Trial registration: NCT04548297.