re: #68 CleverToad

Interesting!
Those muscle receptors may be the root of a problem one of my sisters has. She was always the klutzy one, knocking things over, falling a lot. Finally (in her early 50’s) went and got a diagnosis — I’d have to ask her the technical/medical term for it, but the upshot is that her brain can’t tell precisely where her hands or feet are. When she reaches for something, the object is inches away from where she ‘feels’ it is.

Getting the diagnosis was a relief for her — it’s not klutz, it’s an identifiable physical condition. Doesn’t relieve the condition, but knowing what’s wrong she’s better able to adjust for it.

Proprioception is the sense that tells you how your body is disposed in space. Oliver Sacks dealt with the condition of its lack in one of the chapters of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, I think.