Sensorimotor function & body posture
Sensorimotor function refers to how our bodies sense their own state and react adaptively to changes in our environment.
The sensorimotor system allows us to make coordinated movements and adjust them to the situation around us.
For instance, we need an intact sensorimotor system to pick a cherry from a tree without crushing it.
The term sensorimotor function combines the terms sensory function and motor function. Sensory function refers to sensory information gained from the environment, received by receptive organs (sensors) in the form of stimuli. These receptive organs form the basis on which the body can relate to its environment. Sensors are located in diverse areas of the body, such as the eyes to receive visual stimuli and the ears to receive acoustic stimuli. The skin also contains many sensors, such as those that sense pressure and heat or cold.
Special sensors called proprioceptors play a major role in the body's perception of its own locomotor apparatus and postural apparatus. They are mainly located in the muscles, tendons and joints. Proprioceptors are sensitive to changes in the length of our muscles and their state of tension. The information they provide is essential for us to tell what position the parts of our body are in at any one time. The stimuli from all sensory systems are filtered and processed by the nervous system.
Motor function describes the coordinated activity of the locomotor apparatus, such as the precise tensing of certain muscle groups in order to carry out a specific movement or adopt a posture.
Sensorimotor function is therefore the interactive relationship between the reception and processing of sensory perceptions and the reaction to a perception by the muscles and the locomotor apparatus. Sensory feedback regulates and modifies motor processes.
Sensorimotor function is a feature of both voluntary movements and unconscious reflexes. We can divide sensorimotor function into the two distinct areas, which interact and complement each other:
Goal-directed motor control encompasses the regulation of all movements.
Postural motor control ensures that we can stand upright against the force of gravity. It is mainly performed subconsciously and, to a large extent, by reflexes. Sensory feedback from proprioceptors is of major importance in maintaining and modifying body posture.
Proprioceptors – important sensors for controlling body posture
The proprioceptors function as a sort of monitoring system, ensuring that the muscles, tendons and joints are in the required state, as determined by the central nervous system. The proprioreceptors also give feedback on any discrepancy between the actual and required state.
In this way, the proprioceptors and the central nervous system carry out a constant comparison to check the actual state against the required state. When differences arise, due new stimuli from the environment, the proprioceptors allow the muscles and locomotor system to react with rapid reflexes to restore the desired state. This ensures, for example, that our bodies right themselves against the force of gravity and maintain a constant balance.
In a person with a healthy posture, the body is in a shifting state of equilibrium. The postural muscles are continuously tensed and relaxed to maintain balance.
Permanent deviations from this state of balance – caused, for instance, by long-term postural defects – come to be accepted over time as a (new) actual state. This leads to chronic faulty posture.
The vabene method acts on the body's own regulating mechanism of proprioception to permanently and effectively correct poor posture.
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