PROPRIOCEPTION (Part 3 of 3)

There are 2 different reflexes in the human body that control balance, depending on whether it is required on Stable Surfaces, known as Righting Reflex, or on Unstable Surfaces, known as Tilting Reflex.

I repeat, training for one will not improve the other, so the stimulus must be absolutely sport-specific.

Sports that involve forces being applied to and released from the ground (on solid ground), such as soccer, American football, combat sports, volleyball, basketball, and so on, have a predominance of the Righting Reflex. Therefore, balance and proprioception exercises for these sports should be performed on stable surfaces on the ground.

For sports like skiing, skateboarding, surfing, kiteboarding, water skiing, which take place on unstable surfaces, we are talking about the "Tilting Reflex," and that's where devices like BOSU and oscillating boards come into play.

When training Balance on Unstable Surfaces, we refer to the Tilting Reflex, and when training Balance on Stable Surfaces, we refer to the Righting Reflex.

One of the most striking effects of the adaptation induced by the Tilting Reflex is when you spend some time on a boat or even on a cruise. After several days of adapting your balance, posture, and movement to the oscillatory motions of the sea, you will experience the dramatic effects of this adaptation when you return to solid ground... and it will feel like you're still walking on water, swaying from side to side…

The same effect, although less long-lasting, also occurs when you walk or run for some time on a conventional treadmill (another surface that absolutely does not simulate solid ground, despite the claims of manufacturers). As soon as you step off the machine, you will feel destabilized for a few seconds, and if you are a novice, you may lose your balance.

Your body is asking you, "Which planet have you been on lately?”

This should help you understand what machines are truly effective for sport-specific training and what are not, as well as what machines actually follow our physiology and what are designed differently.

Destabilization for training "terrestrial" sports - Righting reflex - should fundamentally come from:

1. Different positioning of the load relative to the biological center of gravity (complex coxo-lumbar-pelvic system)
2. Deliberately induced deficits at the neural level, including visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive deficits
3. Reducing support from multiple limbs to fewer limbs: from bipedal to unipedal, from quadrupedal to tripodal to bipedal
4. Unconventional movements enriched with additional neural stimulation
5. Changing (and here is the real revolution) the position of the head during various exercises.

Happy training,

guido bruscia