What is Proprioception?

By Sarah Balke

Have you ever considered the number of movements your body performs perfectly without a thought, such as:

• Walking up or down stairs without looking at your feet
• Putting food into your mouth - even though you can’t see your mouth
• Putting an object up on a high shelf

These are all actions that require proprioception.

Proprioception is the body’s ability to perceive where it is in space. Our muscles and soft tissues surrounding joints are full of sensitive nerves, called proprioceptors. The proprioceptors send signals to our brain telling the body where it is in space, how we are moving, and how much force is on the surrounding tissues. This allows you to walk without looking at your feet, raise your hand above your head, or to touch your nose with your eyes closed.

There are several factors that can negatively affect proprioception such as age, joint injury, and alcohol. Yep, that’s why a field sobriety test includes touching your finger to the end of your nose.

Let’s take a closer look at what happens with a joint injury, like an ankle sprain. When the soft tissue surrounding the joint is overstretched, inflamed, or torn, it disrupts signals sent by proprioceptors to let the brain know where it is in space. This is why your ankle can seem “stupid” after an ankle sprain, causing it to twist or become reinjured doing simple activities like walking on an uneven surface.

Luckily, your skin is filled with sensory nerves. These nerves react to outside stimulation, sending information to your brain in an effort to protect the body from injury. For example, the sensory nerves cause us to move away from heat before being burned. This is where a proprioceptive brace comes in! These supports work by providing mild compression to the injured area, activating the sensory nerves in your skin, and telling the brain to pay more attention to your joint. For example, placing an elastic ankle sleeve on a compromised ankle causes sensory signals to be passed to the brain telling it where your ankle is in space, and how it is moving. This can help improve mild ankle stability with a very low profile, lightweight ankle support.

Many proprioceptive braces are made from elastic or neoprene, and do not have additional stabilizers. Examples of these lightweight supports are an elastic knee sleeve or Thermalvent Elbow Sleeve. The other big advantage of a proprioceptive support is that they are relatively inexpensive.

Proprioception, also referred to as kinesthesia, is sometimes called a sixth sense. When you think about all the ways our bodies automatically move, we are amazing creatures. So, give yourself a pat on the back today - I bet you can do it without much thought... now you know why!