You reach for your morning coffee without even looking. You walk downstairs in the dark. You catch yourself before you fall. These aren’t lucky guesses. They’re the work of proprioception, a hidden sense you might not even know you have.

What Your Body Knows That You Don’t

Proprioception is your body’s internal GPS. It allows you to clap your hands with your eyes closed or walk through a dark hallway without watching your feet. This built-in sense lets you know where every part of your body is, even when you can’t see it. It’s constantly at work, helping you stay balanced and coordinated.

You rely on proprioception when you scratch an itch behind your ear or type on a keyboard without looking. It even helps you adjust your grip on a slippery glass before it falls. Your muscles, tendons, and joints are filled with nerve endings called proprioceptors. These sensors send a steady stream of updates to your brain about what each part of your body is doing—how it’s moving, what position it’s in, and how much tension it’s under.

Why Proprioception Matters

Here’s where it gets serious. Proprioception tends to weaken with age, injury, or illness. And when that happens, everyday activities become harder. You might feel clumsy, unsteady, or disconnected from your body. Worse, your risk of falling increases. According to the CDC, falls are the leading cause of injury-related death in Americans over 65.

But there’s good news. You can sharpen this sense at any age. With a little effort, you can train your body to stay steady and responsive.

When your proprioception is strong, you can navigate a crowded room without bumping into people, or catch yourself mid-trip before you hit the ground. When it’s weak, you might misjudge a doorway or fumble your pen because you’re applying too much pressure. People often describe it as feeling like they’re not fully “in” their body.

Want to see how yours measures up? Try these simple tests. But before trying them, clear the space around you, have someone nearby to spot you, and skip these tests if you have any balance concerns or recent injuries.

Upper Body Test

Stand in front of a mirror and close your eyes. Raise both arms until you think they are level with the floor, like making a “T” shape. Open your eyes and compare. A small difference is normal. If one arm is much higher or lower than the other, it could be worth discussing with your doctor.

Lower Body Balance Test

Cross your arms over your chest and balance on one leg. Time yourself with your eyes open, then with your eyes closed. Repeat on the other leg.

● Healthy adults under 50: around 40 seconds with eyes open, 7 seconds with eyes closed
● By your 70s: about 15 seconds with eyes open, 2 seconds with eyes closed

If you're below average, do not panic. Proprioception improves with consistent practice. Here are some ways to improve that sixth sense.

Let’s start with your daily routine. If you usually use machines at the gym, consider switching to free weights. Machines do the stabilizing for you, but free weights make your body work harder to stay balanced. You can also turn everyday tasks into training. Try standing on one leg while brushing your teeth or walking heel-to-toe across a room. Once that feels easy, do it with your eyes closed.

Surfaces matter, too. Your feet are packed with sensors that constantly read the ground. Walking barefoot on different textures like sand, grass, or thick carpet challenges your proprioception in ways that smooth floors can’t. If it’s safe to do so, ditch your shoes and let your feet feel the terrain.

Another trick is to practice movements while your attention is elsewhere. Try having a conversation while doing a basic balance move, like a single-leg squat, or watching a documentary while standing on a foam pad. The more you split your focus, the more your body learns to maintain awareness without needing your full attention.

And here’s something a little unconventional: try walking backward. A recent study found that backward walking, even in older adults, improved balance and spatial awareness. Start slowly and safely. Your backyard or a treadmill with handrails is a good place to begin. Backward movement forces your nervous system to engage in unfamiliar ways, strengthening internal signals.

If you like sports, focus on ones that require fast reactions. Tennis, martial arts, dancing, ping pong or juggling can sharpen your body’s internal timing. That “feel” athletes talk about? It’s proprioception in action, operating faster than visual input alone ever could.

What About Injuries?

Injuries like a sprained ankle or a torn rotator cuff can throw your proprioception out of whack. The nerve endings in those areas might stop sending accurate information. That’s why physical therapy often includes balance drills. When you’re doing exercises on a Bosu ball or pulling a resistance band while standing on one leg, you’re not just rebuilding strength. You’re rewiring your body’s awareness.

If you’re recovering from an injury, talk to your physical therapist about adding proprioceptive exercises to your routine. They can help you rebuild those internal signals as your muscles heal.

Proprioception is your secret weapon for staying steady, confident, and independent. Unlike many aspects of aging, this one can improve with practice. You don’t need to be an athlete or join a gym. Just take the stairs more often, walk across different surfaces, and add a little balance work to your day. The changes don’t need to be dramatic; they just need to be consistent.

With a little training, you can stay sharp, steady, and sure-footed, now and for years to come.

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Reference Links:

Serial Backward Locomotor Treadmill Training Improves Bidirectional Walking Performance in Chronic Stroke

Oluwole O. Awosika, Dorothy Chan, Bridget A. Rizik, Heidi J. Sucharew, Pierce Boyne, Amit Bhattacharya, Kari Dunning and Brett M. Kissela1
Frontiers in Neurology, Published 13 March 2022

Click Here for the Study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2022.800757/full

 

The Effect of Walking Backward on a Treadmill on Balance, Speed of Walking and Cardiopulmonary Fitness for Patients with Chronic Stroke: A Pilot Study

Ken-Wei Chang, Chih-Ming Lin, Chen-Wen Yen, Chia-Chi Yang, Toshiaki Tanaka and Lan-Yuen Guo
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Published 1 March 2021

Click Here for the Study: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052376

 

Age-related changes in gait, balance, and strength parameters: A cross-sectional study

Asghar Rezaei, Sandesh G. Bhat, Chih-Hsiu Cheng, Robert J. Pignolo, Lichun Lu and Kenton R. Kaufman
PLOS One Research Article, Published October 23, 2024 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310764

Click Here for the Study: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310764

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5/23/2025