Test body awareness – The Modern York Times

To hit the tennis ball or dance Merengue, you need piercing eyes and a good ear. But at work there is also another rarely discussed sense: proprioception or body awareness. Although this is not one of the classic five senses, body awareness is crucial for moving and aging with grace. And you can train it.

This feeling says where your body is in space, and is always turned on, said Katherine Wilkinson, a neurobiologist from San Jose State University, who studies basic science.

When you reach for a cup of coffee, neurons and tissues Built in your muscles, joints and tendons feel that they are stretched, rotated or bent. This information goes to your brain, helping to coordinate your hand and hand. Elite gymnasts, dancers and players He tends to particularly piercing body awareness, but it also helps the rest of us to recover after slipping.

Because these organs (known as proprioceptors) are found in your muscles and tendons, your body awareness It can be impaired Or lost if you twist the ankle or break the rotator cuff. However, it can be exceeded through a movement, which is part of why physical therapy is so vital for a damaged joint or tendon, said Claire Morrow, a physiotherapist about the health of the hinges, the virtual clinic of muscle and joint pain.

Your body awareness naturally will fall with ageIN Increasing the risk of falls. This makes people hesitate to move more, said Jia Han, a professor of physiotherapy at the University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Shanghai. And so the wrong cycle begins: when you move less, the body’s awareness deteriorates, which encourages you to move even less. But there are a few exercises some small studies He suggests that he can improve your balance, stability and gait by increasing the awareness of your position and movement.

Doctors and physiotherapists use Specialized equipment To assess proprioception, but you can get a general feeling using two basic tests.

Test the upper part of the body

Body awareness works next to your eyes and inner ear to give you a mental picture of where the body parts are. But the eyes are Imperfect ball -You can lead you to a stagnant pose, say, but too leisurely to facilitate you react to movements in the real world. This test forces you to aware your body.

Standing in front of the mirror, close your eyes and try to lift both shoulders to the height of the shoulders, parallel to the floor. When you think that you are positioned like a great “T”, open your eyes and utilize a mirror to pay attention to how far your arms are from the place where you expected.

Although this exercise may seem effortless, experts said that many people are surprised how far they are. A miniature difference of a few inches can often be dealt with by targeted exercises, she said that Katy Bowman, a biomechanic and author of “Rethink Your Position”, a guide with body leveling and exercises.

Dr. Han said that more extreme asymmetry (difference of eight or more inches) may indicate a neurological condition such as stroke or Parkinson’s disease.

Test the lower body

This test assesses the proprioception of the lower body, especially in cubes, knees and feet.

With open eyes and my arms on the chest, time, how long you can keep balance by standing on one leg. Repeat the exercise with your eyes closed. Repeat both tests with the other leg.

According to Dr. Morrow, hearty adults under the age of 50 should be able to balance for 40 seconds with open eyes and seven seconds with closed eyes. Until the 1970s reached, these numbers drop to 15 and two seconds. If your times differ significantly average In terms of age, consult a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist.

How to improve body awareness

After determining the awareness of the base body, there are some maintenance and even improvement strategies. Dr. Han said that you can expect noticeable benefits after four to six weeks.

Add complexity to your movements

One way to improve body awareness is to raise the variety of established routine.

Skip the weight machine and utilize free weights that force you to coordinate the right and left. Employ a mirror to see if your limbs are where you expect during exercise and teach your body how different positions feel.

“Your body must practice the feeling where it is in space to still know where it is,” said Bowman.

You can also try to exercise on an unstable surface. Mrs. Bowman recommended walking on the grass or sand, which can challenge the feet and cubes in unknown positions. Similarly, exercise with Wobble-Board raises you to engage new muscles And make corrections that are not necessary on constant ground, said Eiman Azim, a neurobiologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. If it is sheltered, you can raise the stake by closing your eyes.

Challenge your strength and balance at the same time

Because proprioception is mostly unconscious, the practice of movements that divide your attention like multidirectional Squat from one leg.

Some Inverted Kettlebell press Dr. Morrow said that this is another excellent exercise for the proprioception of the wrist, because the wrist muscles must work tough to stabilize the joint, while maintaining great importance. To get an additional challenge, try to talk to a friend or watch a document during training.

Prioritize activities that require agility

Proprioception is brisk – its signals reach the brain in A few milliseconds. Your visionHowever, it may take 100 milliseconds. When body awareness works well, it helps to move with agility and intention.

To train him, we should “put ourselves in situations where we must reach a specific point in space with precision and speed”, for example, hitting a brisk -moving pickleball or blocking a goal in football, said Dr. Azim.

You can try to dance, sports, martial arts, and even Parkour. But above all, move often and move differently. When it comes to body awareness, you have to utilize it or lose.

Connie Chang is an independent scientific and parental writer in the Silicon Valley.