Want to Age Well? Do These 9 Exercises for Better Proprioception

Experts agree that if you want a strong, healthy body in your golden years, staying active is key, and strength training and stretching are essential for long-term health. But another crucial component to longevity is often overlooked: proprioception.

"Healthy aging is heavily dependent on the amount of movement you consistently perform," says Grayson Wickham, DPT, CSCS, founder of the Movement Vault. "And proprioception is essentially the technical word for body awareness." In simple terms, it's knowing where your body is in space.

When your proprioceptive skills are on point, you likely don't give them much thought. But your joints are in constant communication with your brain and nervous system to maintain body awareness.

Your joints have receptors that send information to your brain and spinal cord, Wickham says. This information is then processed, helping your nervous system to determine the current status of your joints. This is how you sense your body's position and spatial orientation.

"The better your proprioception is, the less likely you are to get injured and/or damage your joints," Wickham says. Both problems can sideline you in your senior years.

Not only can injuries and joint pain diminish your quality of life, but they can also prevent you from performing day-to-day activities like cleaning the house, climbing the stairs and doing laundry, Wickham says.

Making matters worse, an injury or joint pain can also prevent you from exercising, which, as we know, is critical for long-term physical health.

Having great joint proprioception will also help enhance your physical performance, athleticism and muscle activation, Wickham says. That's because when you have a good sense of where your body and joints are, your movements become more efficient and coordinated.

Better coordination also translates to better balance, which can decrease your risk for falls, Wickham says. This is especially important because falls can become a big problem for many people as they age, he says.

Case in point: One in four senior Americans will take a tumble every year, and one-fifth of these falls will result in a serious injury, such as broken bones or a head trauma, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

So developing proprioception — which helps you stay injury-free and preserve healthy joints — is vital for maintaining independence as an older adult.

In combination with resistance training and active stretching, these proprioception exercises can help you reduce injury risk and improve joint health as you age.