Kinesthetic Awareness and Proprioception
Kinesthetic awareness and proprioception are two different concepts that often get conflated.
Proprioception refers to the internal messaging (the central nervous system) that drives our movement.
My finger doesn’t go to a hot flame because sense organs register heat and provide a warning signal for me to stop my finger.
Proprioceptors are sensors in our joints, muscles, and fascia, providing the information needed to produce coordinated movement.
Kinesthetic awareness refers to our ability to navigate space and the awareness of how we move.
I used to ride my bicycle in Manhattan all the time.
That habit went by the wayside as my family moved deeper and deeper into the heart of Brooklyn.
When I was biking no one would accuse me of being a road warrior. Moseying through the congestion was more my speed.
But I would marvel at the bike messengers who would squirt through the skinniest passages between trucks and cars without ever stopping or scraping.
They did things I would never try. The confidence they had was born of repetition and is the essence of kinesthetic awareness.
Kinesthetic awareness and proprioception work as partners to get us through life
Muscle memory is a kinesthetic concept. So many things that we do without thinking— such as walking, whether we do it correctly or not— are kinesthetic experiences.
They are based on proprioception, which provides the awareness of our joints and body in space.
An example of proprioceptors in action looks at the muscle spindle and golgi tendon organ.
The muscle spindle is a stretch receptor communicating with the brain about how much a muscle can stretch.
The golgi tendon organ, a stretch inhibitor, puts the brakes on a stretch that seems to go too far.
When I teach people to walk I always start with a standing posture.
When I stand a client in my version of good posture people invariably think they are leaning forward.
This fascinates me because it happens to almost everyone.
Here is what is going on: Our perception of standing up straight is skewed.
For assorted reasons, when we stand up and think we are straight, we are usually learning backward.
So when I stand you up straight you feel like you are about fall forward.
This is simple yet complicated stuff.
If your perception of yourself in space is skewed you need to think about retraining your proprioception and kinesthetic awareness.
You have been habituated to perceive yourself incorrectly. But the cool thing is you can turn that around with a bit of patience and perseverance.