Proprioception or How to Get Your Groove Back

[Sandy]

Proprioception (pro-pree-o-ception) is the ability to receive stimuli from within an organism; it is used in receiving stimuli through muscles, tendons and joints, basically to know where you and your body parts are in time and space. Stretch your arms out to the sides, close your eyes and touch your nose, this is proprioception.
     Proprioception works in the following way as it pertains to movement. You are running or walking along and step half on, half off a rock with your left foot. Instantly, without thought or intention on your part, your left knee softens, relaxing muscles, tendons and ligaments as your body weight shifts over your right foot and you correct your left foot position. Proprioception saved the day, no ankle sprain! Contrast this with the athlete lacking proprioception, who in the same situation can not correct, and continues to roll through the left ankle with full body weight, causing a painful ankle sprain.
     Proprioception is a function of the central nervous system and can be lost through the simple act of aging, lack of use through a sedentary lifestyle or through damage to site specific receptors. Continuing our example, ankle sprains can become habitual in some people because they have lost their propricoception through multiple ankle sprains. Some athletes in this situation turn to ankle supports to provide, well, support. What these supports in fact do, is act as a wake up call to ankle proprioceptors. When the ankle begins to turn, the increased pressure provided by the support alerts the proprioceptors to do their job. While this works well as part of a rehabilitation strategy, it should not be relied upon as a permanent fix.
     To reactivate your propriocpetive abilities, try this simple activity. With bare feet stand on one foot, starting with 30 seconds and moving up to one minute. As you stand there you will feel the many muscles in your foot, ankle and lower leg working. Switch legs and repeat. As this becomes easy, do the same exercise with your eyes closed. You can also add an extra challenge to your balance by moving your free leg, forward and backward, or leaning slightly backwards. If you hold this leaning position you will be working your abdominals at the same time. Balance boards, wobble boards and Bosu balls can be added as your abilities increase.
     Improving your proprioceptive abilities and balance is not only beneficial to sporting activities, but to daily activities of life. As we age, these sensations begin to dull through lack of use, which can occasionally lead to a fall. If you find yourself sitting to tie your shoes, or holding onto walls, chairs or railings to help you up or down the stairs or into and out of the car or bathtub, you need to be doing the exercise mentioned above daily.
     Improving proprioception is not about learning a new skill. It is about repeating a forgotten skill until you can do it comfortably without having to look to check, or having to think too hard about what you are doing.