Proprioception is defined as the sense of the orientation of one’s limbs in space. Proprioception doesn’t come from any specific organ, but from the nervous system as a whole. Its input comes from sensory receptors — nerves from inside the body rather than on the surface. Proprioceptive ability can be trained, as can any motor activity.
Without proprioception, batters would be unable to hit a ball, as they would be too busy watching there arms and hands holding the bat to see the ball. And I would not be able to type this article without staring at the keys. If you happen to be snacking while reading this article, you would be unable to put food into your mouth without taking breaks to judge the position and orientation of your hands. The greater ones proprioception the more awareness they have of their surroundings.
This would be a very important for someone like a soccer goalie who must be very aware of many things at one time. The ground, where they are in relationship to each post of the goal, the offensive players and his defensive players, and that darn ball. He also needs to be aware of where he and all of his limbs are in relationship to all of these things so that he can give himself or herself, the best chance possible of preventing that ball from hitting the back of the net. A daunting task when you take a moment to think about it. It is one of the reasons why we often put our athletes, especially goalies, in a very proprioceptively rich environment.
Andrew Harestad
Director of Methodology
CAMP, Building Better Athletes LLC