• at the end of this chapter, students should be able to: • Define and explain kinesthetic sense • Differentiate between kinesthetic sense and proprioception • Know the exercises to help improve kinesthetic sense
are two different concepts that are often conflated;Proprioception refers to the internal messaging (the central nervous system) that drives our movement.
Kinesthetic awareness refers to our ability to navigate space and the awareness of how we move.
• Also known as “muscle memory”
• Kinesthetic awareness and proprioception work as partners to get us through the movements of our lives from the inside and the outside of the body. • So many things that we do without thinking— such as walking whether we do it correctly or not— is a kinesthetic experience based on proprioception, which provides the awareness of our joints and body in space.
• the kinesthetic sense can be improved with practice and training
• those who have vision can prepare for the exercises visually, but should do the exercises with eyes closed or occluded in order to develop and be able to rely on the kinesthetic sense
• Improving measurement of turns • Turn in place – while standing in one place, practice turning accurately to the left and right 90 degrees and 180 degrees and any other angle desired. • Turn while walking – Make the same turns while walking or make turns while walking around the outside corner of a wall and then reach out to verify the direction of your travel compared to the direction of the wall.
• Improving measurement of distance • Walk a measured distance – can be done for short distances, such as 10-20 feet in a hallway, or long distances, such as a half-block or a block or more outside.
• Walk across measured traffic/vehicular lanes – In a parking lot or a quiet street that is relatively free of moving traffic, walk across marked lanes and report when you have finished one lane and are starting the next.
• Combining distance with turns • Walk a distance then turn and walk along an intersecting pathway – choose a place that has perpendicular intersecting pathways, such as intersecting sidewalks • Walk around an object and return to the starting point – starting at the wall, walk around the object as close as possible without touching it, and return to the starting place along the wall.
• Maintain line of travel around an obstacle – place an object along a starting and an end point, walk then turn around the object and resume the original line of travel.
• https://corewalking.com/kinesthetic-awarenessproprioception/ • http://www.sauerburger.org/dona/kines.htm