Trusting your 'sixth sense'

Proprioception-the word has been around since the beginning of the 2-th century-means, obviously, perception of one's self. It is more commonly called the sixth sense and thought to be a special gift that only special people have. But today proprioception is coming into its own, and is being shown to be something we all have and unconsciously rely on. As two German scientists have described it, proprioception carefully measure a myriad physical properties (muscle length, tendon tension, joint angle) sending singles by different nerves through the spinal cord to select portions of the brain. The results of all this traffic in continual sensory feeding is to give the body a continually and dynamically updated map of just where you are at any given second. While most of this is part of the unconscious automatic routine of daily life, proprioception comes into its own when we have to learn a new skill (mental or physical). We learn the skill and then we automate it, all thanks to proprioception and-you guessed it, doing it over and over, day after sweaty day.

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