Proprioception is your body's knowledge of itself. That means that you know where your body is in space and where each limb is and how it's functioning. That is what allows you to be balanced and agile as you are walking. Your proprioception is an unconscious thing, and is caused by several different sensors in your body. However, not everyone really has good proprioception. Those people have problems with walking and other issues. For example, they may be described as very clumsy because they are always falling down or banging into things. While there are people who are just uncoordinated, those things can also be a sign of faulty proprioception. There are ways that you can increase your proprioception if you have problems. One of them is to use physical therapy.

Physical Therapy and Proprioception

There are several ways that physical therapy can help out with proprioception issues. Those issues can be caused by several things, including neurological problems like strokes or even a sprain or injury like a broken leg. Physical therapy helps to compensate for those problems because it trains the body in new ways to move. When you see a physical therapist, they will give you a list of exercises that you need to do. Those exercises are designed to do several things.

One is that they will strengthen a particular area. For example, if you broke your leg and had to spend several months in a cast, the PT would give you exercises to help strengthen the muscles that may have atrophied a bit. The exercises are also designed to help create new muscle memory.

Muscle memory helps with your proprioception. Your body is able to do things without you thinking about them, and your body will be able to react correctly in a situation. For example, if balance is your issue, your therapist may have you stand on a balance board. These boards are purposely designed so that they will keep you off-balance when you stand on them. In order to stay balanced on the board, your body will have to learn new ways to sense that you are off-balance and new ways to maintain that balance. Your body will unconsciously use the new sense of balance and the new muscle memory of what you need to do in order to stay balanced when you are out and about doing your normal routine.

If you have problems with proprioception, you can increase it and learn how to deal with the problems. Physical therapy can help. Contact a business, such as Eagle Center Physical Therapy, for more information.