Proprioception

Articles

Dec 1

Some people are familiar with the term kinesiology, but may not be familiar with what proprioception involves. Proprioception is also called kinesthesia, which refers to the ability your body has to sense it’s spatial relationship to your surroundings while moving or in action.

What is Proprioception?

In simple terms, it is how your body knows how to move without being focused consciously on the action itself. Walking, running, touching your face, doing things without looking at them, or seemingly “natural” movements are all examples of proprioception. The sensory receptors all throughout your body are sending different signals to the nervous system and brain. It factors into most everything we do from our overall awareness to our ability to play musical instruments.

While in development, children can exhibit proprioceptive dysfunction in a number of different ways. There are various methods to help address issues in proprioception through therapeutic intervention.

How Can You Recognize Proprioception Dysfunction?

Typically, children with proprioception dysfunction exhibit signs in their behavior. It relates to body movement and positioning, so children often behave in ways that are seeking sensory input. This behavior might be a child swinging their legs under their chair or bouncing their legs, crashing or bumping into things, stomping their feet while walking, or hitting or banging on their toys or other things often.

Another way to recognize signs of proprioception dysfunction in children is to look at how they judge different scenarios controlling their own body. Your child may not be able to tell the difference in weight between two objects or have trouble understanding how much strength is needed for certain actions, such as picking up a cup of water. You also might notice that they misjudge their strength and break things often or rip the paper when erasing.

Treating Proprioception Dysfunction

There are many different ways you can address proprioception dysfunction by both receiving treatment through therapeutic intervention and focusing on activities or actions to do at home. Occupational, physical, or speech therapists can help address the specific needs of your child to help them achieve maximum independence in their life.

Occupational therapists can work with your children to manage the tasks of daily life and improve overall motor skills. Sensory input can be an important need for children in development and OTs can work to provide sensory integration and help them with any sensory processing issues.

Physical therapists work with children to help them develop motor skills while also working on things involving their overall coordination. Your child can work with a physical therapist to help them work on improving their strength and balance to better understand their sensory input.

At home, there are different ways you can incorporate sensory integration or provide ways to help your child improve their balance and overall strength. You can find lots of great activities for sensory integration in some of our resources.

Check out our activities and free printable resources

To start incorporating proprioceptive activities into your home routine, start by thinking about two types of activities: heavy muscle work and heavy pressure. For heavy muscle work, think about fun ways to strengthen muscles during play such as doing crab walks or animal walks, push-ups from the floor, wheelbarrow walks, and anything you might enjoy doing together at home. Heavy pressure activities or actions could be something like a tight hug, tucking in tightly for bedtime, or jumping off of low heights like the couch to land on small surfaces.

Sensory integration therapy helps your child to feel more stable or safer as they respond to outside stimulus. These exercises and activities help children whether they are overly sensitive to sensory input or hyperactive and craving more sensory input. What your therapists focus on in their assessment is how unique each child is in their diagnosis. As each individual has different needs, your doctors and therapists can tailor a plan to help develop proprioception for your child.

If you are concerned or have questions about proprioception dysfunction, check in with your child’s healthcare professional. There are many assessments they may perform and also may recommend the help of a skilled occupational or physical therapist to help you child achieve maximum independence in their life and daily actions.

Looking for more resources? Read more about sensory processing and other things parents might encounter during the course of their child’s treatment.

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