Your sense of body position is referred to as:
Video transcriptImagine if it was pitch black in your room. Would you be able to walk? As long as nothing got in your way, you'd probably be able to walk perfectly fine. But why is this? When walking in a pitch black room, you rely on your sense of balance. You know exactly where you are in space. You know whether or not you're standing straight up or if you're sitting down. And as you're walking, you know if your right foot is in front of your left or if your left foot is in front of your right. So how is it that we know exactly where our body is in space without actually having a look at it? Well, this is known as our sense of propioception. And proprioception is basically defined as our ability to sense exactly where our body is in space. In other words, this is our sense of position. And this sense actually originates from a bunch of tiny little sensors that are located throughout our entire body in almost all of our muscles. So let's imagine that this right here is a muscle in your leg or in your arm. Let's just say it's a muscle in your arm. So there's a tiny little receptor in it, inside of the muscle. And this receptor will actually go up to your spinal cord and then eventually to your brand. And this receptor, if we kind of zoom in on it, we zoom in on this receptor, is sensitive to stretching. So as this muscle contracts, so if I was going to lift something really heavy, the muscle would contract, and it would get thinner, so it would look like this. It would get a bit thinner. And so this sensor, which is known as a spindle-- I'll write that down here. This is a spindle. This sensor can sense that the muscle has been stretched out, and it too will also stretch. So it will go from this conformation to this conformation. It will actually get stretched out. And so we can draw a little spring-like structure inside, which is actually quite similar to what's actually inside the spindle. There's actually a protein inside that gets stretched. When that protein gets stretched, it fires a signal to the brain. This is the basic principle behind proprioception. So we're able to tell exactly how contracted or how relaxed every single muscle is in our entire body, and this allows us to know exactly where our body is in space. There's another word that's commonly used to talk about your body's movements. And this is known as kinesthesia. So let me write that down-- kinesthesia. And so if we talk about proprioception to include your body's position in space as well as your ability to balance, so your sense of balance would be included under proprioception, kinesthesia is talking more about the movement of your body. So one final way to differentiate between the two is that proprioception can be thought of as a cognitive awareness of your body in space. So it's more cognitive. So one way to think about this is that it's a little bit more subconscious. So you're not always thinking about exactly where your body is in space, exactly how you're orientated, if you're walking, or if you're running. Your main concern isn't, oh, I hope-- it might be, but your main concern isn't I hope I'm not going to fall down. Pretty much your sense of balance, your sense of position, are pretty well taken care of by your proprioceptive sense. So it's more cognitive. It's more something that's under the surface. You're not overtly thinking about it. On the other hand, kinesthesia is a little bit more behavioral. And what I mean by that is let's imagine that you're playing golf or you're trying to hit a baseball, constantly you're swinging. Sometimes you miss, sometimes you hit the ball. But every single time you actually swing the bat or swing the golf club, your body is able to detect exactly how it's moving. And so over time, if you learn that, OK, if I move in this certain direction, I'm able to hit the golf ball, or if I move in this direction, I'm able to hit the baseball, then over time, your body is able to detect exactly what that movement is and start to undergo that movement more and more often. So you're able to actually teach yourself exactly how you should move in order to successfully complete whatever task is at hand. So that's just another way to distinguish between the two terms. But just keep in mind that proprioception and kinesthesia are not the same. So they are not the same. So I'll draw a big x here. But they do share a lot in common. And what they do share in common is inferring movement, and position, and where your body is in space. And the big difference is, just to kind of summarize, is that proprioception is concerned with position while kinesthesia is concerned with movement. And proprioception includes your sense of balance, while kinesthesia does not. Show Proprioception, otherwise known as kinesthesia, is your body’s ability to sense movement, action, and location. It’s present in every muscle movement you have. Without proprioception, you wouldn’t be able to move without thinking about your next step. Proprioception allows you to walk without consciously thinking about where to place
your foot next. It lets you touch your elbow with your eyes closed. Proprioception results from sensory receptors in your nervous system and body. Most of these receptors are located in your muscles, joints, and tendons. When you move, the receptors send detailed messages to your brain about your positions and actions. Your brain processes these messages and works with your vision, nervous system, and vestibular system to create your perception of where your body is and how you’re moving. Certain conditions can make proprioception difficult. You may have these symptoms if you have a proprioception disorder: These conditions may cause proprioception disorder: If you’re having symptoms of proprioception disorder, your doctor will ask about your health and medical history, including recent surgeries and existing medical conditions. They’ll then examine you and do proprioception tests. These include: TTDPM Test. This test is used on different joints throughout your body. Your doctor uses a machine that moves one of your limbs in a particular direction at different speeds while you’re blindfolded. You report
which direction you think the movement was. JPR Test. Similar to the TTDPM test, this test involves a machine and blindfold. While you’re blindfolded, the machine moves one of your joints in a certain direction. Then, the joint is returned to its initial position. You’ll try to reenact the motion on your own. Thumb Finding Test. The doctor moves your hand in a certain position. With your eyes shut, you
touch the thumb of one hand with your other forefinger and thumb. Distal Proprioception Test. The doctor moves your big toe up and down in front of you. You then try to duplicate this movement with your eyes closed. Sequential Finger Touching. You touch your thumb with each of your fingers, starting with the forefinger. Romberg Test. This is the most common proprioceptive disorder test. For
30 seconds, you stand on your own with your eyes closed and your heels together. You may have proprioception disorder if you lose your balance during these 30 seconds. Field Sobriety Test. This is the same series of tests law enforcement officers use to test drunk drivers. The standardized field sobriety test (SFST) includes the walk-and-turn (WAT) test, the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test, and the one-leg stand (OLS) test.
If your doctor thinks your proprioception disorder is the result of an injury or another medical condition, you may also need these tests:
Treatment for Proprioception DisorderAlong with treatment for whatever is causing your proprioception disorder, you’ll probably also do exercises and therapy to improve your coordination and balance. Here are some popular ways to treat proprioception disorder:
Proprioception training can also reduce your risk of injuries and muscle deterioration. Talk to your doctor about what exercises would benefit you the most, given your medical history, overall health, and age. Your doctor will create a custom treatment plan for your proprioception disorder. What is the sense of body position?Proprioception is the group of sensations generated by the body's own actions. It includes the senses of limb position and movement, the senses of force and heaviness, the sense of effort and the sense of balance.
What is the sense of proprioception?Proprioception is the body awareness sense. It tells us where our body parts are without having to look for them. This helps to know where body parts are relative to each other, which strengthens our coordination skills. It also tells us how much force to use when we're holding, pushing, pulling, or lifting objects.
What is kinesthetic sense?The kinesthetic senses are the senses of position and movement of the body, senses we are aware of only on introspection. A method used to study kinesthesia is muscle vibration, which engages afferents of muscle spindles to trigger illusions of movement and changed position.
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