In the mid-90s, Dr. Gary Gray and over 80 Movement Professionals – called “Team Reaction” – came together to compile a book entitled “Total Body Functional Profile.” Team Reaction’s goal was to increase the function of others by being able to test function.
In this book, Dr. Gary Gray pens a story, “ Near the House at Pooh Corner (In the Front Yard on a Sunny Day).” As this is the final Proprioceptors Series Blog, this story is perfect. As a nod to assessment, this story is perfect. As a parallel to Fascial Proprioceptors, this story is perfect. Here is the story:
Pooh: Oh bother! Why am I sitting on this tree stump trying to make my leg go straight with Piglet hanging onto my ankle?
Owl: So Rabbit and I can calculate how strong your leg is.
Rabbit: Extending a Piglet twenty times means you have a strong leg for a bear.
Piglet: It is hard to hang on. I hope I don’t fall off when you make your leg go fast.
Eeyore: This all looks very boring to me.
Pooh: But this is not what the leg of a Pooh Bear does.
Owl: And what, may I ask, do you mean by that?
Pooh: Well, the leg of a Pooh Bear likes to balance while reaching for a jar of honey, likes to squat down to play sticks with Piglet, likes to lunge back during tug-a-war with Eeyore, likes to climb the tree steps to visit with owl, like to jump over logs in the forest with Tigger, and likes to play hop games with Rabbit.
Tigger: Oh, thank you, Pooh. I like jumping with you, too … that’s what Tiggers do best, you know.
Owl: Maybe if Piglet lets go of your ankle and you get up off that stump we can see what the leg of a Pooh Bear can do.
Rabbit: But there will be nothing to calculate, nothing to count, nothing to time, nothing to measure.
Pooh: It seems if you let my leg do what it likes, you could measure it while it likes what it does.
Tigger: You mean like jumping with me, hopping with Rabbit, tugging on Eeyore, and squatting with Piglet?
Eeyore: Everyone’s always tugging on my tail.
Pooh: And especially balancing while reaching for a jar of honey … just the thought of all this makes me very hungry, indeed.
Owl: Maybe there is a way to measure all the things your leg likes to do. I really do enjoy it when you climb up the steps into the tree to visit me … maybe next time we could count the steps.
Rabbit: I would like to see how far and how fast we can jump together … that’s what we do best, you know
Eeyore: I’ll bet you will want to lunge as far as you can to see how far back you can pull me by my tail.
Pooh: I wonder how long I can balance and how far I can reach for a jar of honey?
Rabbit: It seems like there is going to be a lot of things to measure if we are going to measure all the things the leg of a Pooh bear like to do.
Piglet: But what am I going to do now that I am not hanging onto the ankle of a Pooh Bear?
Pooh: Oh, Piglet, now you can hang onto the hand of a Pooh Bear and the rest of your friends and join in on all the fun!
Brilliant, Pooh Bear, just brilliant … Test function with function – what the body likes to do and does do. In other words, turn on the proprioceptors authentically in ways they turn on in function, in real life.
In this series from Gray Institute® on proprioception, the particular properties of the individual mechanoreceptors (nerve endings) have provided insight into their specific contributions. The combined neuro-perceptual information creates proprioception that includes limb segment, whole-body position, and the changes created by movement. Some of the proprioceptors are named for the researchers that discovered them (Ruffini, Pacini), others by their anatomical location (Muscle Spindle, Golgi Tendon Organ), and still others by the structure of the terminal ending (Free Nerve, Encapsulated). Recently with new research findings, the tendency has shifted to focus on “Types” based primarily on the anatomy of the terminal nerve ending.
The discovery of the same “Type” ending in different tissues suggests that the proprioceptive information will be influenced by anatomical location. Apparently, the same ending in different tissues will provide different information about the position and movement of the body parts. Van der Wal states it this way: “The activity and role of a mechanoreceptor is defined by not only its functional properties, but also by its architectural environment.”
The fascial system of the body is an amazing network of connective tissue. Some experts consider fascia as a subset of a larger group of connective tissues. Not surprisingly, there is disagreement about the definition of fascia, as well as how to categorize the primary types and layers. For this reason, it may be beneficial to take a simpler, yet practical, look at the structural and informational roles of fascia as a system.
Fascia surrounds and contains muscles and other organs. It separates while connecting – connected separation. Fascia efficiently absorbs and returns force to the movement system. One could say that because of fascia, “Everything is connected.” The structural connections allow activity in one tissue to be “communicated” to other regions through the collagen links, but this also occurs through fluid dynamics. Understanding the impact of these physical “connections” may take many years.
However, it may be the nerve endings found in fascia that play an essential role in producing coordinated movement of all the body parts. Ruffini Corpuscles, Pacinian Corpuscles and Free Nerve Endings (Type I, II, III) have been identified in different sections of fascia in animals and, to a lesser extent, in human studies. These mechanoreceptors may provide different information in fascia compared to the same endings in other tissues. Deformation, primarily through three-dimensional tension, creates the receptor discharge during movement. But there is likely discharge at rest that would indicate the static position of the body. Because of the physical connection, the mechanoreceptors in fascia could create neuro-perceptual connections throughout the entire body.
Van der Wal goes on to say that “it is the architecture of the fascial connective tissue in relation to the muscular tissue components and skeletal elements that play a major role in the coding of the proprioceptive information that is provided.” At Gray Institute®, we would say that movement is task-specific and context-dependent. It appears that the information generated by the different proprioceptors will depend on the initial position of the body that alters the architecture of the fascia (context) and the movement being executed (task).
In spite of our less-than-optimal understanding of fascia and the nerve endings in fascia, there can be no doubt that the body must have a fascial system that has full mobility/extensibility. Restrictions from inactivity, injury, surgery, nutrition, or other diseases have the potential to limit motion but are even more likely to alter the afferent information needed for proprioception. This will make the creation of muscle synergies more difficult and less efficient. All movement practitioners need to be “armed” with a group of global movement tests that simultaneously invoke movement throughout the body in three planes of motion.
So what, who cares, why is this information so important? Gray Institute® has coined many phrases, including the following statement: “Movement turns on proprioceptors, proprioceptors turn on muscles, and muscles control the movement.” The proper (functional) movement is key, which is why 3DMAPS® (3D Movement Analysis & Performance System) is so vital to any assessment and any progression/program.
3D Movement Analysis and Performance System (3DMAPS®) is an efficient tool to gather information about patients/clients. At Gray Institute®, the goal is to expand the individual’s (patient’s / client’s) three-dimensional sphere of success. In the Performance System of 3DMAPS®, this spherical strategy comes “to life” by utilizing lunge and hold positions combined with arm drivers to create a flowing three-dimensional sphere of movement. (Learn more at https://grayinstitute.com/courses/3dmapsthree-dimensional-movement-analysis-and-performance-system.)
The above progression, while one (1) of many in the performance system, validates the importance of proprioceptors being turned on authentically – in ways that happen in real life. This takes into account the three-dimensionality of the body, the relationship to position and gravity, and the use of real drivers (feet, hands, eyes, pelvis) to create the Chain Reaction®. This all stems from the six (6) Chain Reaction® Movements – both for mobility and stability – to assess and progress the entire body in natural ways … in ways that Pooh Bear would enjoy, feeling engaged, encouraged, and empowered!
1 Van der Wal, J.C., Proprioception. In Fascia – The Tensional Network of the Human Body Schleip R., Findley T.W., Chaitow L., Huijing P.A., Churchill Livingstone 2012.