Difference Between Kinesthesis and Vestibular Sense

The key difference between kinesthesis and vestibular sense is that kinesthesis provides a sense of movement, posture and orientation of our body parts while vestibular sense provides a sense of balance and the movement of the head.

Sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell are the five main senses we usually know. But there are two more senses in our body, which help us in standing up, balancing and movement. They are kinesthetic and vestibular senses. Kinesthetic sense originates from the sensors located in joints, tendons, bones, ears, and skin while vestibular sense originates from the semicircular canals in the inner ear, and vestibular sacs.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Kinesthesis 
3. What is Vestibular Sense
4. Similarities Between Kinesthesis and Vestibular Sense
5. Side by Side Comparison – Kinesthesis vs Vestibular Sense in Tabular Form
6. Summary

What is Kinesthesis?

Kinesthesis is the process that basically senses the movement of our body. The sensors located in joints, bones, tendons, ears, and skin provide information regarding the body’s movement, position and orientation. Therefore, it is the process that allows you to feel the positions of your limbs.

Muscle memory and hand-eye coordination are two processes driven by kinesthesis. Because of muscle memory, we can raise our leg without even looking at it. Due to hand-eye coordination, we can continue typing even after closing our eyes.

What is Vestibular Sense?

Vestibular sense basically provides information about the balance of our body and the head movement. It monitors the positions of our head and body and responds to changes occurring according to the gravity, motion, and body position.

Vestibular senses originate from the semicircular canals in the inner ear and vestibular sacs. Once we move our head, the fluid in our head stimulates the receptors in our ears. It also helps to sense the body position in relation to the head and maintain the balance.

What are the Similarities Between Kinesthesis and Vestibular Sense?

• Kinesthetic sense interacts with the information of the vestibular sense.
• Moreover, both types of senses are coordinated by the nervous system.

What is the Difference Between Kinesthesis and Vestibular Sense?

Kinesthesis is the process that senses the movement and position of the body. In contrast, vestibular sense is the process that senses the balance of the body and head movements. Thus, this is the key difference between kinesthesis and vestibular sense. Moreover, kinesthetic sense originates from the sensors located in joints, tendons, bones, ears, and skin while vestibular sense originates from the semicircular canals in the inner ear, and vestibular sacs. This is another difference between kinesthesis and vestibular sense.

Summary – Kinesthesis vs Vestibular Sense

Kinesthesis refers to the sensing of body position and movement while vestibular sense refers to sensing the movement of the head and balancing the body. This is the key difference between kinesthesis and vestibular sense. Kinesthetic senses develop from the sensors in joints, tendons, bones, ears, and skin while vestibular senses develop from the semicircular canals in the inner ear and the vestibular sacs.

Reference:

1. ” Vestibular and Kinesthetic Senses.” Study.com, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Proprioception image-01” By John Tuthill – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Blausen 0329 EarAnatomy InternalEar” By “Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014”. WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436. – Own work (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia