Proprioception

Proprioception is often called the body’s sixth sense. It’s our innate awareness of where we are in space—an internal map of our body’s position and movement. This awareness originates from sensory receptors in the muscles, tendons, and joints.

But it doesn’t stop there. Proprioception also arises largely from fascia. Fascia is highly innervated—not by motor nerves, but by sensory nerve endings. This means fascia is constantly feeding information back to the nervous system. Within connective tissue, we find a variety of receptors:

• Golgi tendon organs that respond to changes in tension.

• Free nerve endings that signal pain or noxious stimuli.

• Ruffini endings that respond to sustained pressure and stretch.

• Pacinian corpuscles that detect vibration and rapid changes in pressure.

Together, these sensory pathways make fascia an incredibly rich communication network. They don’t control muscles directly, but instead provide the brain with detailed information about position, load, stretch, pain, and even the quality of tissue stiffness.

So proprioception is far more complex than what we once thought—it’s not just about balance and coordination, but also about how the body senses and interprets tightness, inflammation, and internal signals.

Many brilliant studies have explored this connection. Dr. Robert Schleip, for example, has written extensively about the relationship between fascia, proprioception, and interoception—the way we sense what’s happening inside the body.

On our next post we’ll dive deeper into interoception

References:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8304470/

https://youtu.be/lyQ-E_a36eQ?si=yWa85wPYZptfVABd

Schleip, R., & Stecco, C. (2021). Fascia as sensory organ. Fascia in sport and movement, 2, 175-286.