Proprioception
On this page
Proprioception – how we understand ourselves in the world around us
This is another of our ‘Somatosensory systems‘, which helps us to understand our body’s position – in relation to itself and everything else around us.
While it may not be a term that’s often encountered, it is an important part of how we navigate and interact with things.
Proprioception enables us to push open doors, flip eggs in a frying pan, bend down to pick up a penny, and notice the extension of our personal space when we drive a car or ride a bicycle.
We can think about it in terms of how we engage with collections – the act of picking up a collections box, manoeuvring to put it on a shelf, pushing it into its slot, clicking down the button of your pen to reveal the nib, and writing a note of the accession number all require proprioception.
It also impacts how we design interpretation and visitor interactions – do we want someone to press a button for a panel to emit a sound, open a flap to reveal a smell, or try on costumes to immerse them in the time period? We need proprioception, again!
Proprioception provides information about the location of various parts of the body in relation to each other and their surroundings.
This sense originates from tiny sensors that are located throughout our entire body in almost all of our muscles.
- Think about a muscle in your leg or in your arm. There’s a tiny receptor inside of the muscle.
- This receptor will go up to your spinal cord and then eventually to your brain.
- This receptor is sensitive to stretching, so if you were going to lift something really heavy, the muscle would contract, and it would get thinner.
- The sensor, which is known as the spindle, can sense that the muscle has been stretched out, and it too will stretch.
- There’s a protein inside that gets stretched, and when that protein gets stretched, it fires a signal to the brain.
- 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.
Kinaesthesia vs proprioception
These two functions are not the same, but they do have a lot in common. What they do share is how you understand and use movement, position and where your body is in space.
Proprioception includes your body’s position in space as well as your ability to balance.
- Proprioception can be thought of as a cognitive awareness of your body in space, and therefore more subconscious.
- For example, 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.
Kinaesthesia is primarily about the movement of your body and is more behavioural.
For example, if you’re playing golf or you’re trying to hit a tennis ball, you swing the club or racquet repeatedly. Sometimes you miss, sometimes you hit the ball. But each time you actually swing the bat or the golf club, your body is able to detect exactly how it’s moving.
- Over time, you learn that “if I move in this certain direction, I’m able to hit the tennis ball”.
- Your body detects exactly what that movement is and you start to repeat that movement more frequently.
- You’re therefore teaching yourself exactly how you should move in order to successfully complete the task.
Pretty special, right!?
Watch the following video if you would like a more thorough explanation of proprioception and kinaesthesia.
Proprioception covers a large amount of things we do, as we move and interact with things around us
The following provides some examples of what proprioceptive activities could include:
Heavy work
Carrying items:
- Carrying a full backpack
- Picking up your pet
- Taking shopping bags into your home
Resistance
Things you have to push, pull or grab:
- Opening a door
- Pushing against the wall
- Squeezing a ‘stress ball’
Deep pressure
Things that add weight:
- Covered by a weighted blanket
- Going for a massage
- Your pet falling asleep on your lap
Movement
Things that need your body to move:
- Dancing
- Gardening
- Riding a bike
- Swimming
- Yoga
Making
Things that require your body to ‘create’:
- Blowing bubbles
- Cooking
- Knitting
- Moulding clay
- Painting
Try some of the activities mentioned in ‘Terminology and definitions‘ tab, and ask yourself the following questions:
- Where am I?
- e.g. in the office
- How is my body positioned?
- e.g. sitting in a chair, with pressure on your thighs and lower back
- What type of movement am I doing?
- e.g. typing on my keyboard using hands and arms
- Does it require coordinated movements?
- e.g. I often sip water through a straw in my drink while continuing to typing
- What is affecting my movement?
- e.g. the resistance of the keys against my fingers
- If I removed a sensory system, would that affect my ability to keep this position/undertake this movement?
- e.g. If I moved my hands away from their natural position on the keyboard and closed my eyes, I wouldn’t be able to touch type anymore.