Proprioceptor pathways

Proprioceptor information coming from muscle spindles, Golgi tendon organs, and receptors at joints offers for conscious awareness of body movement and position. It is also used by the cerebellum to guide motor performance. The proprioceptor input from the arms, neck, and upper trunk is relayed in the dorsal columns to the cuneate nucleus, from where it follows exactly the similar path as touch sensation from the same regions. This is the route for conscious upper body proprioception. The axon collaterals from the dorsal columns go to the accessory cuneate nucleus, the origin of the cuneocerebellar tract which supplies upper body proprioceptor input to the cerebellum.

An individual proprioceptor pathway serves the lower trunk and legs. The proprioceptor afferents from the lower body enter the nucleus dorsalis (i.e., Clark’s column), situated in lamina VII among spinal segments C8 to L3. The axons of Clarke’s column neurons ascend on similar side as the dorsal spinocerebellar tract (DST) to the cerebellum. Collaterals of the DST synapse with neurons in nucleus Z that project to the medial lemniscus to give input for conscious lower body proprioception.The ventral spinocerebellar tract (VST) occurs from the ventral horn and transmits signals reflecting the present state of spinal cord central pattern generators included in locomotion.