Definitions
Proprioception, also called proprioception or kinesthesia, is a sense that was described at the end of the 19th century by Charles Sherrington (Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1932) as our ability to perceive ourselves without using sight. It allows us to be aware of the exact position of our body in space by informing our brain about the position of the different parts of our body.
Along with the vestibular system of the inner ear which gives the sensation of movement, proprioception thus participates in the "general somatosensory sensitivity".
This particularly important sensitivity refers to all the conscious sensations that will be awakened by the stimulation of the body's tissues, and more specifically of the sensors very specific to each elementary sensitivity (touch, heat, cold, pain) as well as the proprioceptors which are located at the level of the joints, muscles and tendons.
It is essential in our physical and mental development, and will allow us to gradually establish a mental map called a "body schema", which corresponds to the representation that each of us has of ourselves in terms of shape, volume…
Le Professor JP Roll (CNRS) considered proprioception as " the primary meaning, the one that gives meaning to the other meanings
Proprioception: what is its link with neuroscience?
And the work of the last twenty years in neuroscience has allowed us to better understand the mechanisms and structures responsible for the formation of our multiple internal representations (sensory, visual, temporal, spatial), which allow us to compensate and effectively accompany the transformations generated by each motor act.
Proprioception is essentially deeply involved in the construction of each of them since it informs us, in fact, about the precise location of our sensory organs (and consequently of sensory information in space), playing a major role in multisensory perception.
Thus, the permanent three-dimensional coding enabled by the proprioceptive system provides us with precise reactive and anticipatory control during our movements. This system develops and improves throughout an individual's life, and also retains its adaptive capacity throughout life thanks to learning.
Proprioception & functional rehabilitation
In the field of functional rehabilitation, the question of the trainability of this famous proprioception is central, since today many commonly accepted techniques for strengthening and working on it carry the idea that instability would be effective, while some recent work allows us to doubt this, and in particular in the management of chronic ankle instabilities.
Motor imagery, for its part, promises great prospects, since the patient relies on the proprioceptive feeling of a gesture, as well as on all other sensory modalities, which will increase the congruence with the reality of a gesture performed in a given context.
That's the bet that, for example, Allyane In its specific neuromotor reprogramming method, which combines proprioception, motor imagery, and listening to low-frequency sounds (through headphones via a medical device), the aim is to reactivate complex motor patterns or precise muscle contractions. Indeed, certain motor functions can be inhibited following trauma or surgery, or in certain types of neurological pathologies, and often result in compensatory patterns that are sometimes painful.
Motor imagery based on our proprioceptive and therefore multisensory sensitivity has notably shown its effectiveness in limiting the loss of strength or loss of joint range of motion, improving the quality of muscle recruitment, and the fluidity of execution of our motor programs, and its fields of application are numerous.
SOURCES:
Proprioception, JL Taylor, in Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 2009
Examination of the Sensory System, Steven McGee MD, in Evidence-Based Physical Diagnosis (Fourth Edition), 2018
https://www.sci-sport.com/dossiers/il-etait-une-fois-la-proprioception-partie-1-006.php#1
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/proprioception