Kinesthetics and kinesthetic sensations refer to the awareness of body position, movement, and equilibrium by receptors located in muscles, tendons, joints, and the internal ear. The receptors for kinesthetic sensations are special sensory receptors called proprioceptors. The ability to perceive kinesthetic sensations occurs because proprioceptors carry signals to the central nervous system where they are processed in the somatosensory region of the cerebral cortex.

Examples of proprioceptors include neuromuscular spindles, golgi tendon organs, joint kinesthetic receptors, and hair cells of the vestibular apparatus in the internal ear. Neuromuscular spindles are found in all voluntary skeletal muscle. However, a higher density of neuromuscular spindles are present in those muscles performing fine motor skills, such as the hands, compared to muscles that perform crude movements like those of the back. Neuromuscular spindles are located within normal muscle fibers called extrafusal muscle fibers. The neuromuscular...