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Proprioception
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: June 19, 2017
Proprioception. I love this word. Not because it sounds so scientific, but because of how important it is to the world of human athletic performance. Its Latin and Indo-European roots reinforce my fascination with the word. Proprius in Latin means "one's own,” and the Indo-European word (re)ception refers to the ability to “take or grasp.”
When the medical world pieced these two words together into proprioception, they created a term to describe the brain’s amazing ability to sense both the relative position of body parts, and the strength of those efforts being employed in movement patterns. Such neuromuscular actions are a huge deal indeed.
Think about it, proprioception gives you the ability to run a marathon without constantly watching your feet, the ability to hit a baseball without staring at the bat, and the ability to ride a bicycle without forever focusing on your legs. And you’re using this “seventh sense” every waking minute of every single day.
So how does proprioception work?
The answer lies in this vast network of receptor nerves, proprioceptors, located in muscles, joints, and ligaments.
These proprioceptors can sense minute changes in the human body just as manmade receptors sense micro pressures, sounds, heat, light, etc. in high-tech gadgetry.
Once proprioceptive information reaches the brain, the brain immediately fires a command back to the affected muscles. Such bioelectrical communications happen so fast that they’re often referred to as reflexes rather than reactions.
Now in my opinion, the really cool thing about proprioception is the fact that it can be trained and strengthened such that one’s agility and coordination can improve.
And the funny thing about my predilection with this proprioception thing is that when I was a kid I absolutely loved participating in goofy circus tricks, like walking for miles on railroad rails without falling off, like hopping from stone to stone across creeks and never touching the water, and like scaling tall trees while trying to work hands and feet up the branches in perfect harmony.
Little did I know I was training proprioception.
Today, as a coach who understands the virtues of proprioceptive skill training, I still love to test my aging body with adult versions of goofy circus tricks, like doing squats while standing on med balls, like rock hopping across boulder fields high up in the mountains, and like rock climbing up and down sheer vertical precipices. I have to say that old dogs can indeed continue to learn new tricks.
That’s right, by practicing sport-specific mobility drills to improve proprioception, the brain allows the body to move more efficiently through those movement patterns.
These improvements happen because the targeted joints send information to the brain to help it create a 3D map of the body in space.
By increasing the amount of information sent to the brain through specific drill work the brain gets a clearer picture of its environment.
But remember, just as proprioception can be improved, so to can it be lost.
That can occur from injury, disuse, the aging process or a combination thereof.
Those damaged or underutilized nerve fibers loose their ability to send messages properly, and that in turn results in the brain receiving undelivered or incorrect messages.
A good example of proprioceptive losses through injury is an ankle sprain.
Once you get an ankle sprain, the damaged never fibers loose some of their proprioceptive abilities such that you end up at an even higher risk for more ankle sprains.
With respect to disuse and aging, proprioceptive losses can gradually and insidiously escalate into faulty mechanics issues and/or losses in coordination.
Again, there’s good news here, because with enough practice via proprioception drills, the brain can incorporate enough new information to improve movement patterns, not only in your sport of choice, but also in your everyday life.
By helping the brain to create clearer 3D pictures you enable yourself to move easier, with more efficiency and better predictive capabilities.
Hopefully I’ve got you feeling a bit more comfy with the concept of proprioception training, and if you care to learn more there’s plenty of agility/coordination literature out there that address your sport of choice.
Conversely, if you’re simply thinking about some basic proprioception exercises that will help you to improve your balance and coordination, well, there’s plenty of great information which addresses that aspect to.
Remember, proprioception training is for everybody.