Abstract
Historically deafferentation has been seen in the context of a late effect of syphilis, (before the spirochaete’s effects were largely killed off by antibiotics, at least in Western societies). One of the consequences of the chronic late stage of the disease is atrophy of the dorsal columns of the spinal cord, leading to loss of the tracts carrying touch and proprioception. This in turn led to the characteristic broad based staggering gait and uncontrolled ataxic movements. Dispassionate accounts of the consequences of this may have been made more difficult by the fact that with ataxia comes intractable lightning pains1. That such deafferentiation could arise from other peripheral and central causes of loss of proprioception was less clear2
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One famous account of living with syphilis is In the Land of Pain by Aiphone Daudet, translated by Julian Barnes (2002) Random House/Jonathan Cape, London.
Proprioception is a rather imprecise term, being used by some to relate to the perception of movement and position sense and by others as afferent information underpinning these percepts but not all perceived [22].
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Selected readings
Cole J (1991) Pride and a Daily Marathon. London: Duckworth (reprinted by the MIT Press, London and Cambridge, MA, 1995)
Forget R, Lamarre Y (1987) Rapid elbow flexion in the absence of proprioceptive and cutaneous feed-back. Human Neurobiol 6: 27–37
Rolke R, Magerl W, Andrews Campbell K, Schalber C, Caspari S, Birklein F, Treede RD (2006) Quantitative sensory testing: a comprehensive protocol for clinical trials. Eur J Pain 10: 77–86
Rothwell JC, Traub MM, Day BL, Obeso JA, Marsden CD, Thomas PK (1982) Manual motor performance in a deafferented man. Brain 105: 515–542
Sterman AB, Schaumburg HH, Asbury AK (1980) The acute sensory neuronopathy syndrome; a distinct clinical entity. Ann Neurol 7 (4): 354–358
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© 2008 Birkhäuser Verlag
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Cole, J. (2008). The neuroscience and phenomenology of sensory loss. In: Grunwald, M. (eds) Human Haptic Perception: Basics and Applications. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-7612-3_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-7612-3_24
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