What are proprioceptive exercises?

This post might be a little different than what I normally write about, but I thought it was an interesting topic to discuss because not a lot of people who what proprioceptive exercises are! I always believe that knowledge is power – so with that being said, what are proprioceptive exercises, and why do they matter to athletes?

Definition: Proprioception is the sense of knowing where a body part is in space. The concept can be difficult to grasp until you lose it because so much proprioception occurs without out conscious much thought. Proprioception abilities can be injured when joints are injured, such as with an ankle sprain or ACL tear.