Where am I? Part 2

Remember that fancy word we talked about last time? Proprioception. Aka, our ability to determine where we are in space and keep tabs on our body in relation to our brain. We chatted about how these little sensors help protect us from joint injury and are a key component in successful rehab. I also hinted that there was a broader, “whole-body” or “nervous system” level of importance to our proprioceptive skills.    

Let’s look at the phenomenon of vertigo. While there can be a whole host of reasons for someone to experience vertigo; from viruses, to whiplash, to medication side-effects, to neurological conditions to trouble with the little crystals and fluid in our ears, the underlying reason for the symptoms is that our brain is confused about where we are. We need consistency in three primary inputs in order to feel stable and solid (and not like the room is spinning). What we see, must match with what our inner ears tell us, which must also match what the joints in our upper cervical spine (neck) are saying. For example, if we turn our head to the right, we get one set of information from each of the three inputs that when combined are consistent with being turned to the right. When we are upside down, we get a different set of information from each input which is all consistent with being upside down. When there is a disconnect in these systems (regardless of which is the cause), we experience sensations of spinning, nausea, dizziness and of course, distress. It’s a case of “one of these things is not like the other one” and our brain is not sure which to believe. The eyes may display shaking or rotary movements called nystagmus as they seek to make sense of what the messages from the ears and neck are telling us. Disruption in feedback from body to brain has occurred, and our efforts to find ourselves result in these unpleasant symptoms until our brain can recalibrate to this mismatched information, or until the cause of the problem has been resolved.

Recall for this next part, that the number one goal of our brain and nervous system is to keep us safe. Society sometimes (often incorrectly!) presumes that individuals displaying repetitive or seemingly bizarre behaviours are having a mental health disturbance. But in reality, they are often having a proprioception disturbance. We know that the proprioceptive feedback our brain gets from our body is happening constantly in the background and that we need this feedback to feel safe. Just like a computer program, this “program” also takes up space and capacity in our brain and we must have enough available space (aka “RAM” in computer terms) to run this program and open others at the same time. The more disrupted/difficult to perceive or interpret our proprioceptive feedback, the more effort and capacity our brain requires to “run” this program. There are some medical, cognitive, and developmental conditions that make it very difficult for the brain to process this (and other types) of sensory information. When these individuals are in situations where the brain must shift focus to multiple things in the environment or process more information, it can lead to overwhelm for the brain as there simply isn’t enough “RAM” space available to process this new information plus run that (larger than usual) proprioceptive program. The body is wise though and inevitably develops behaviours that help improve the communication between the body and brain and crank up the volume of our proprioceptive feedback. The goal is to ensure we can still feel safe and use a bit less “RAM” to run the program so that we can deal with the stimulating environment. Such behaviours can include rocking the head back and forth, repetitive nodding or even banging the head against a wall or floor. While there can be other reasons for these behaviours, often at the root, it’s a proprioceptive issue. Compared to just sitting still, when rocking the head back and forth, the brain receives a jolt of proprioceptive feedback from the spinal joints in the upper neck and suddenly the brain is soothed as it has “found our body” again. Some individuals may flap their arms or hands. Once again, this may be viewed as bizarre, but in reality it is quite a brilliant solution to the problem the brain is trying to solve. Both the movement of the joints in the hands and arms and the “wind” created from these flapping motions (that we can feel on our skin), increases the volume of our proprioception and makes it easier for the brain to monitor where the body is. 

You will notice these behaviours often increase when the individual is in a new environment, a stressful environment, out of routine, or dealing with a lot of emotions. As you may appreciate, the common denominator is that all of these situations are requiring increased focus and additional surveillance of our surroundings, and ultimately a lot of increased brain processing. You guessed it, that takes up brain power and space so there just isn’t the same capacity to devote to interpreting a disrupted proprioception processing system. Therefore, to ensure the brain can still keep tabs on the body, the volume had to be turned up. 

Some people - and even pets, find deep, broad pressure to be soothing when experiencing emotional stress. Applying deep pressure, via a hug, a pillow or a “thunder vest” may make it easier for our brain to “feel where our body is”, allowing us to feel safe, and free up some processing space to deal with those large emotions. 

So we now know our proprioceptive system is running all the time. But keep in mind, all the time, means all..the..time - even when we’re asleep. If we are experiencing a disruption in our ability to interpret our proprioceptive information and our brain needs to work harder to monitor it, this can make it more difficult to fall asleep. Wrapping ourselves in blankets, or perhaps using weighted blankets, turns up the proprioceptive input volume, so it’s easier to decipher and requires less brain power to monitor. This is soothing and ultimately can allow for deeper, more restful sleep.

Proprioception. Just add it to the list of the wonderful and amazing functions our body is doing all the time that we don’t give a second thought to….until of course, it’s a problem.