The kinesthesia or kinesthesia It is the science of movement, more specifically it covers what is related to the perception of movement in relation to the environment.
At any given moment we may be able to perceive where we are located, as well as the exact position of any part of the body in space, both when at rest and during movement.
Thus, during a certain activity such as a sports practice, the athlete who performs an action, for example a jump, is able to know exactly where his arms or legs are and where to direct them to achieve his goal without having to see them.
This knowledge derives from the interpretation of the information coming from a series of receptors coming from deep structures such as muscles, tendons, joints and even the viscera carried out by the brain. This kinesthetic information is very important in order to achieve coordination and balance in movements.
Kinesthesia and proprioception are two different concepts
Kinesthesia is often confused with proprioception. As the word has been described kinesthesia refers to spatial location during movement, while when we speak of proprioception we refer rather to the knowledge of the location of the body as everything as well as of each of its parts in space.
Proprioception is obtained from the information that is continuously sent to the brain by a series of complex receptors that are activated by stimuli such as pressure, friction, temperature and even the degree of contraction of a muscle.
A simple way to understand the concept of proprioception is with a very fast exercise, if we close our eyes, we are able to direct our hand towards any structure of the body without making mistakes, even if we are not seeing it, this happens because our brain knows exactly where it is. located and therefore gives instructions to our hand to follow the path that allows us to reach it.
The phantom limb
Sometimes amputee patients are able to feel, perceive and locate the missing limb in space as if it still existed, and they may even manifest pain in these areas.
This is because the lesions in the nerve endings that are located in the stump (end of the amputated limb) send abnormal information to the brain, causing it to interpret that the structure that was removed is still present.
This disorder can be treated, achieving its complete disappearance.
Photos: iStock - cosmin4000 / Johnny Greig
