kinesthetic components
Composed of receptors found in the joints and ligaments, the kinesthetic
system is important to maintain movement as you have read from the intro. To
demonstrate the kinesthetic system, a simple test could be used. The task is
to straighten your arm out to the side of your body at a right angle. After
that, you would close your eyes and try to touch the tip of your nose with a
finger. Obviously most people can easily touch their nose but the question
that arises is how do you know where your arm or other body parts are without
seeing them moving. Studies have shown that you feel the body parts with
specialized nerve endings in the skin, joints, and muscles. Kinesthesia is
the word to describe the sense of how you feel where your body parts are.
There are two different types of nerve cells for muscles including efferent
neurons which send messages downward to the muscles. These messages tell the
muscles to contract which results in telling how your limbs move. The
afferent neurons which send messages upward from the muscles tell your brain
the condition of each muscle or how stretched it is which helps in telling you
where your limbs are. The special nerve endings are called receptors which
are in the muscles and send these messages to the brain with long nerve fibers
surrounding them which are called spindles.
