Kinaesthetics

Kinaesthetics (or kinesthetics, in American English) is the study of body motion, and of the perception (both conscious and unconscious) of one's own body motions. Kinesthesis is the learning of movements that an individual commonly performs. The individual must repeat the motions that they are trying to learn and perfect many times for this to happen. While kinesthesis may be described as "muscle memory", muscles do not store memory; rather, it is the proprioceptors giving the information from muscles to brain. To do this, the individual must have a sense of the position of their body and how that changes throughout the motor skill they are trying to perform. While performing the motion the body will use receptors in the muscles to transfer information to the brain to tell the brain about what the body is doing. Then after completing the same motor skill numerous times, the brain will begin to remember the motion based on the position of the body at a given time. Then after learning the motion the body will be able perform the motor skill even when usual senses are inhibited, such as the person closing their eyes. The body will perform the motion based on the information that is stored in the brain from previous attempts at the same movement. This is possible because the brain has formed connections between the location of body parts in space (the body uses perception to learn where their body is in space) and the subsequent movements that commonly follow these positions. It becomes almost an instinct. The person does not need to even think about what they are doing to perfect the skill; they have done it so many times that it feels effortless and requires little to no thought. When the kinesthetic system has learned a motor skill proficiently, it will be able to work even when one's vision is limited. The perception of continuous movement (kinesthesia) is largely unconscious. A conscious proprioception is achieved through increased awareness. Kinaesthetics involves the teaching and personal development of such awareness.