Hidden Senses: Vestibular & Proprioceptive Systems
Image of a young femme presenting person with long brown hair wearing a white tank top with red graphic letters and jean shorts is walking on a wooden fence while balancing. Their hands are out to the sides, and the setting sun can be seen behind them. Around them are green trees further in the background.
You have heard of the five senses - sight, smell, touch, taste, sound. But have you ever heard of vestibular or proprioceptive senses?
Sometimes dubbed the hidden senses, these two senses get talked about much less frequently yet they are no less important.
In this blog you will learn what these two senses are, what they are responsible for, what issues they may cause if they are not functioning in a predicted fashion and what to do to help yourself navigate the world when these two senses are affected.
All of this will be discussed in the context of neurodivergence specifically, as these two senses act differently in neurodivergent folks. Without further ado, let’s dig in!
Pink square graphic depicts colorful blobs with text and graphic elements corresponding to it. Center blob reads "sensory system", blobs around it read: visual, olfactory (smell), tactile (touch, skin sensitivity), proprioception (awareness of body in space), vestibular (head position, movement), gustatory (taste), auditory.
Since you are likely well aware of and familiar with the “typical” five senses, I will skip right ahead to proprioception.
Proprioception
Proprioception can be described as awareness of our body in its environment, in its space. Proprioception, like other senses, works through stimuli that our brain receives from our surroundings. These stimuli typically come through muscles and joints, which after receiving them send information up to our brain, helping determine our location relative to other objects around us.
Proprioception is the sense that allows you to know how close you are standing to the kitchen counter when you are chopping vegetables for dinner, or how far you need to stretch your arm out to open your porch door.
Another important role proprioception plays is motor planning - helping your body anticipate its next move. It helps us think up and execute different motor tasks, such as getting off the couch or going up a set of stairs.
Lastly, proprioception identifies how much force we are using when interacting with objects, e.g. are we putting enough effort into unscrewing the pickle jar, are we slamming the door instead of closing it, etc.
Vestibular
The vestibular complex or apparatus is located in the inner ear and is responsible for our sense of balance. It is the epicenter of balance in our bodies, containing receptors that regulate our sense of equilibrium.
An easy way to remember and understand this sense is to think of it as your body’s relationship to gravity.
Our vestibular sense helps us detect movement in the body and any changes in the position of the head relative to the ground. Your vestibular sense knows when your head is upright or tilted, event when your eyes are closed. So if you were hanging upside down on the monkey bars as a kid, your vestibular sense helped you know that your head was not in its typical upright position.
Vestibular sense also tells us if we are moving fast or slow, helping us calibrate movement speed as we go about our days.
Pink square background features a graphic of a person with yoga clothes on in the top portion, next to it is the text “vestibular system, known as our balance center: monitors balance, movement, position of the head, perceives how fast or slow we are moving.” In the bottom portion of the square is an image of a person going up a set of stairs, to the left of it is the text “proprioception, through muscles and joints, our brains receive information on where we are in space and in relation to objects. It also tells us how much force we are using.”
What do differences in these senses look like?
As many neurodivergent folks (and others with sensory issues) experience differences and sometimes difficulties with sensory processing and integration, it is important to go over what this may look like in real life.
For the vestibular processing I divided things into two categories of sensory-seeking and sensory-avoiding, as neurodivergent folks frequently have areas in which they need more stimulation as well as areas in which they need less.
To be clear, just because these experiences below differ from what is determined to be “normal” does not in any way make them bad or abnormal. These experience demonstrate a difference in sensory processing, meaning our brains react and process stimuli in a manner that diverges from someone else.
Vestibular processing differences:
Sensory avoiding
Dislikes activities requiring feet to leave the ground
Moving slowly or cautiously
Frequent motion sickness or dizziness
Dislikes changes in positions
Sensory seeking
Seeks out activities requiring feet to leave the ground
Rocking, spinning, twirling, or frequent head tilting
Appearing to never become dizzy with excessive spinning
Prefers frequent changes in positions while sitting, laying, etc.
Frequent urge to jump, run, swing, etc.
Proprioceptive processing differences:
Frequent crashing, bumping, climbing, falling (e.g. missing a stair, bumping into furniture, having a number of ‘surprise’ bruises)
Enjoys deep pressure or being "squished"; prefers tight clothing
Uses too much force, e.g. when shaking hands, patting someone on the back, writing, opening containers, shaking things, etc.
Misjudges the amount of force required to manipulate objects, e.g. pick up things, kick things, high five, etc.
Odd body posturing, e.g. needing to shift positions often, sitting cross-legged, with legs above head level, etc.
Difficulty manipulating small objects (buttons, snaps)
Missing putting food into one’s mouth when eating
Pink square image with a graphic of a human with long hair putting their hands to the side with three orange question marks above their head, implying not knowing something or wondering what to do.
So, what do we do?
While some of the above-described experiences can at times be comical, there is also real difficulty (and pain!) with bumping your head into the cabinet doors or always finding the corners of the bed frame with your knees or toes.
So how do we work with the brains we have and create accommodations for ourselves?
1. Work with and update your body maps
What are body maps? Todd Hargrove describes this very well in his article on how to improve proprioception, saying that:
“The body maps are parts of the brain that are organized in such a way as to represent the different body parts, just as lines on a map represent roads. Each part of the body has a separate area of the brain dedicated to moving and sensing that body part. So, we have hands, and we have virtual hands in the brain - parts of the brain that represent the size, shape and position of the hands. The brain will even devote space to representing inanimate objects which we need to sense and control, such as a tennis raquet, tool or cowboy hat.
Body parts communicate with their virtual counterparts in the following way. There are millions of microscopic organs called mechanoreceptors located throughout the body. When they are stimulated by a mechanical force, they send a signal through the nervous system to the part of the brain devoted to sensing that part of the body. The brain assembles all these signals from the innumerable different sources and determines exactly where everything is and what it is doing. In essence, the brain creates numerous maps of the body that it uses to decide what is going on and how to move.”
Our brain creates body maps through movement. So every time you touch your ear or stretch your arms above your head, your brain is mapping your body’s position in space, noting every minor detail.
The key to good body maps is movement that generates curiosity, playfulness and gives your brain something to engage with in a positive way. Focus on movement that is deliberate, mindful, does not cause pain and is full of sensory data your brain will love. It can be yoga, tai chi, mindful walks, etc.
2. Try vestibular exercises
If you would like to improve your vestibular sense, practicing movements that have to deal with your sense of balance could help your system better calibrate and adjust.
As the eyes, head and neck have so much to do with balance, you can try small, slow movements in these areas to improve vestibular function: eye movements up and down and side to side, head tilts front and back and side to side.
You can find more detailed exercises and tips in this blog post here and here.
3. Accommodate your senses
The most important part of having sensory differences is to not get caught up in what senses “should” do and focus on what works best for you. Many neurotypical standards have attempted to force sensory-seeking kiddos to stop moving, or the opposite - demanding movement when people’s systems are not equipped to handle it.
There should be no violence, force or demand toward anything that has to do with your senses. Your senses have kept you alive throughout all this time, and they will continue doing so in the future.
To work with your senses first means to identify what your senses enjoy and what they do not. If you find comfort and pleasure in rocking or swinging, maybe it’s time to invest in a hammock or a rocking chair. If, on the other hand, you get dizzy from spinning - perhaps swapping your wheeled office chair for one that is stationary is just the accommodation your body needs.
The point is to find what works for you by working with your body instead of against it. As you begin to learn more and accommodate your sensory system, you will get more acquainted with its specifics and peculiarities. Which, in turn, will both equip and empower you to make choices that are right for your body and your senses.