Proprioceptors - Video Tutorials & Practice Problems
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concept
Proprioceptors
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In this video, we're going to be learning about proprioceptors. So proprioceptors are located in our musculoskeletal system and they help us with our sense of proprioception understanding where our body is and how our body is moving through space. So there are three types of proprioceptors. So first, we have muscle spindles. Now, muscle spindles are located in our skeletal muscles and the way that they look, they're basically made up of these intrafusal muscle fibers, which you see here in red and they have these sensory fibers wrapped around them. That's what you see here in yellow. And these are enclosed in a connective tissue capsule. And that's what you see there in purple. So that is their general anatomy and what these do is they monitor muscle stretch. Ok. So spindles, monitor stretch is one way to remember that and what these will do if they pick up on too much stretch in your, in your muscle or very unexpected sudden stretching, they will initiate what's called a stretch reflex. And we actually will have an entire video on those coming up for you later in the course. So next, we have golgi tendon organs and these are located in our tendons and these are basically sensory nerve endings coiled between collagen fibers. So I will show you how these work in just one second. Um But what these do is they monitor muscle tension. OK. So tendon organs, monitor tension is one way to remember that. And what these will do is if we have excessive muscle tension to the point where the tendon is at risk of tearing, they will initiate a tendon reflex as a protective mechanism. And we're gonna have an entire video on this one coming up for you later as well. But basically how these work, if you imagine these are the collagen fibers in my um tendon, we have these nerve endings between them, kind of coiled between them. And when the muscle gets very, very tense, it makes these fibers kind of squeeze down on those nerve endings and that causes the nerve endings to send up action potentials. So that's how those work. And then finally, our last category are these joint kinesthetic receptors. Now, this one is a little bit different because it's not actually just one type of receptor. This is more of a category made up of four receptor types that can be found in our synovial joints. So this includes lamellar corpuscles, bulbous core puss, um tendon organs and free nerve endings. And that is quite a bit to remember. So one kind of easy little memory tool to help you with that is to imagine ordering a BLT with fries. So we have the B for bulbous core puss, L for lamellar core puss, T for tendon organs and F for free nerve endings. So just remember to order your BLT with fries. All right. And what these do is they monitor joint position and stretch. So they give your brain information about the location of your joint, the angle of your joint, any force being applied in the motion of your joints, things like that. So if we were to imagine these all working holistically in our arm, for example, we would have muscle spindles in the muscle, giving us information about stretch. We would have these tendon organs in our tendon, giving us information about um muscle tension and we have these joint kinesthetic receptors in our synovial joint, giving information about the location and position of our joint. And all of that would get sent up to our central nervous system and give our brain an idea of where we are in space, how we're moving in any ways that we may need to adjust that accordingly. All right. So those are our proprioceptors and I will see you guys in our next video. Bye bye.
2
example
Proprioceptors Example 1
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1m
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OK. So this one asks us which type of proprioceptor would be activated when your muscle tenses up. So, thinking about that conceptually for a second, if our muscle is getting tense, if it's, if it's tensing up, what's going to happen is the collagen fibers in our tendon are going to squeeze together, right? And remember our goy tendon organs are made up of these sensory nerve endings coiled between those collagen fibers. So when those collagen fibers squeeze together, they're gonna put pressure on those sensory nerve endings and th and then that's gonna send action potentials up to the brain saying, hey, we have muscle tension, right? So our answer here is B golgi tendon organs. Now, as a quick reminder, muscle spindles will be monitoring muscle stretch and joint kinesthetic receptors are monitoring the position and movement of our joints. So our answer here is B goalie tendon organs will be activated if your muscle was to tense up. So there you have it.
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Problem
Problem
Muscle spindles are involved in which type of reflex?
A
Tendon reflex.
B
Withdrawal reflex.
C
Stretch reflex.
D
Tension reflex.
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Problem
Problem
Joint kinesthetic receptors are crucial for which of the following functions?
