Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Walking the plank - Proprioception

I was planning on running tonight after work, two things got in my way. A thunderstorm and a reality check. I had to admit to myself that I may have overdone it a little over the weekend as my ankle is sore. Not painful just sore. So an extra day off of running will probably be a good idea.

What do I mean by walking the plank, well that is the exercise activity that I have been doing that I think has helped the ankle. The Dr. that I saw that suggested that I work on improving my proprioception 

Definition of Proprioception from Dictionary.com

The unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself. In humans, these stimuliare detected by nerves within the body itself, as well as by the semicircular canals of the inner ear

He said I should pick a 4" x 4"x 8' cedar beam, since I had 4 2" x 4" x 8's I went low cost and nailed then together and now have16 feet of plank to walk.


I walk forwards and backwards and am just starting to get a feel for doing it with the eyes closed. Ok, I should say that I can stand on the beam with my eyes closed as I have yet to be able to walk the entire length and back with my eyes closed. I can stare at a distance point versus looking down at the beam which is an improvement. Since I first started doing the beam, I have made quite a bit of progress and considering the cost and how I can't do it very well, it's well worth the investment and time.

So instead of a run, I walked my plank for 5 minutes. Hopefully tomorrow the soreness will be gone and I will get in a run. 

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