Proprioception and Proprioceptive System

This system begins with information receivers and it ends with action suppliers. Between these two extremities, there is a complex mechanism. There is an afferent pathway to the brain. Proprioceptive information is received by the brain, it is treated at this level and then submitted to a perceptive mechanism.

The disease occurs when the proprioceptive perception is disturbed. Perception depends on the information coming from different receivers and not just from one kind of proprioceptive receiver. Let's consider the perception of verticality. Information comes from the eyes, from the feet, from the inner ears, from antigravitic muscles, from tendons, from fascias and from joint receivers. Suppose these pieces of information are not coherent amongst themselves... the result is unbalance, vertigo or dizziness. As so, these receivers have shown they are intrinsically linked and integrated by a common brain mechanism. That is why they represent a system.

The proprioceptive system includes not only the perception of the body but also the perception of the body in space, the EGOCENTRIC LOCALIZATION. It is impossible to understand the consequences of the proprioceptive dysfunctions without this knowledge.

The proprioceptive system is a slow neurological system, which means it works with at a low speed in afferent and efferent pathways. Proprioceptive centers receive information from the classical proprioceptive body receivers but also from vision and inner ears. Vision has two kinds of neurological pathways: the well known retina-cortical pathway and the retina-colicular pathway but only this secondary pathway belongs to the system.

Low-powered prismatic lenses use this colicular pathwayto reach the brain and manage the proprioceptive system.