09 Aug 2018 BY Katrina Tarrant POSTED IN Exercise, Physiotherapy, Pilates Tweet Proprioception...the sixth sense How do we know where our limbs are in space? How far to reach out for that cup of coffee on the kitchen bench whilst our eyes are looking at our instagram account? How much intensity in our muscles we need to make that step up faultless and not to fall flat on our faces? The ability to sense our body regarding our position, motion, and equilibrium is known as proprioception. This comes from nerves deep within our muscle cells, our tendons and our joints. Even if blindfolded, the dancers above know through proprioception if their arms and legs are in alignment together, her leg is at hip height, or their lines are long. You could think of balance as the feeling of the still self, and proprioception as the feeling of the moving self. We all have this amazing sense and we could not survive without it. Without this sixth sense, we would all be tripping up, dropping objects and knocking things over. Life would be very messy indeed. Tweet
How do we know where our limbs are in space? How far to reach out for that cup of coffee on the kitchen bench whilst our eyes are looking at our instagram account? How much intensity in our muscles we need to make that step up faultless and not to fall flat on our faces? The ability to sense our body regarding our position, motion, and equilibrium is known as proprioception. This comes from nerves deep within our muscle cells, our tendons and our joints. Even if blindfolded, the dancers above know through proprioception if their arms and legs are in alignment together, her leg is at hip height, or their lines are long. You could think of balance as the feeling of the still self, and proprioception as the feeling of the moving self. We all have this amazing sense and we could not survive without it. Without this sixth sense, we would all be tripping up, dropping objects and knocking things over. Life would be very messy indeed.
