Objective To explore the changes of proprioception in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) before and after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods Thirty-four KOA patients were selected as the experimental group and divided into posteriorly-cruciate-retaining TKA (CR-TKA) and posteriorly-stabilized TKA (PS-TKA) groups according to the surgical method, and the patients were followed up for three months after surgery, while 20 healthy subjects were included as the control group. Biodex system Ⅲ isokinetic training system, self-designed force sense test equipment and surface electromyography (sEMG) test system were used to collect proprioception (position sense, kinesthesia, force sense) of KOA patients before and after surgery and healthy subjects, and the data were processed and analyzed by applying SPSS26.0. Results Compared with healthy subjects, KOA patients had significantly worse position sense of 30°, 45°, and 60°, kinesthesia, and semitendinosus force sense of the affected knee and unaffected knee (p<0.05). At three months after surgery, there were significant differences in the force sense force of the affected biceps femoris and contralateral semitendinosus compared to healthy subjects (p<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in deviation for position sense, kinesthetic, and force sense on the affected and contralateral knee joints between preoperative and three months postoperatively between the CR-TKA and PS-TKA groups (p>0.05). Conclusions Knee proprioception of KOA patients was significantly impaired compared with healthy subjects. No significant improvement in proprioception was seen at three months after TKA in CR-TKA and PS-TKA groups. There was no difference in the effect of different surgical types on proprioception at three months postoperatively. The results can provide certain data support for doctors' clinical diagnosis and treatment and determine a direction for subsequent rehabilitation programs.