The good news is that you already have proprioception. It is like one of those SAT words from high school, you know you have seen it before but you don't know what it means. Proprioception is simply your "body's awareness of what it is doing." It is the coordination of movement between your brain, nervous system, and musculoskeletal system.

When you get up to walk across the room do you actually think about how to walk? Of course not. But if you stop to think for a moment about all the processes required to do, so it is amazing. Muscles are engaging while others are relaxing, reflexes are firing, and your upper body is coordinating the movement of your lower body, all while balancing on one leg at a time. Now think back to when you were a baby. You were not born walking; it is actually a learned activity. You had to get up and fall down a few times, then learn how to balance upright, and eventually how to support weight over one leg at a time while moving forward. We take it for granted as adults, but watch a baby struggle through the stages and you will realize it is a difficult process.

For runners, the importance of proprioception relates to our gait or "how we run." Each runner has a distinct gait, some more unique than others. And each time we run we return to the same patterns. That is why we can recognize our friends out on the trail from a half-mile away. The coordination, or lack thereof, in our gait cycle greatly determines our speed, efficiency, and susceptibility to injuries. If you are running toward us when we perform a gait analysis at our office and we have our hands over our eyes, you can bet you have some proprioception issues with your gait.

When a runner gets injured, especially with more serious injuries involving joints and sprains, there will be damage to mechanoreceptors in those areas that communicate with the brain. These receptors need to be retrained or reeducated to function properly again or garbled messages will be sent to the brain that can affect our biomechanics. That is why you cannot treat injuries by symptoms only. The "I'll stop running until it doesn't' hurt anymore" strategy will likely lead you to further injury. You need to heal the injury as well as rehab it properly to strengthen, stabilize, and restore proprioceptive patterns. It is the only way to stay healthy in the long run!

The good news is not only do you have proprioception but it can be improved and refined with exercises and drills that are designed to focus on the specific proprioceptive needs of runners. In the next issue we will delve further into proprioception and the things you can do to improve it. If staying injury free and improving performances are important to you as a runner, we would suggest you get a gait analysis performed by a qualified professional to identify deficiencies in your stride.

Doctors McLaughlin and Kulik treat runners, triathletes, and ordinary folks at their Commonwealth Chiropractic Clinic in Reston, VA. Call (703) 742-7856 for a consultation.