Improving movement awareness and responsivity of the sensorimotor cortical network via Feldenkrais method: psychometric and electrophysiological evidence

Objective: Movement awareness is the phenomenological aspect of proprioception and interception processes associated with movement. Greater movement awareness can improve the efficiency of motor acts, and therefore increase the efficacy of sensorimotor functions with potentially-valuable implications for practice in clinical and sport-related contexts. Among the methods devised to train such form of consciousness of the self and of own behavior, the Feldenkrais method aims to promote self-awareness and to optimize the ability to regulate the body in action through a somatic-proprioceptive training protocol mediated by movement and self-observation. Yet, as in the case of many other similar approaches to self-empowerment, empirical evidence concerning the efficacy of the method is scarce and often inconsistent. The present study aims at investigating the effects of an empowerment protocol based on the Feldenkrais method on proprioception, self-awareness, and body image, as well as on responsivity and regulation of the sensorimotor cortical network during observation, imagination and execution of complex gestures. Participants and Methods: 25 healthy volunteers took part in the study and were randomly divided into an experimental (EXP) and a control (CON) group. The EXP group underwent a 7-month training based on Awareness Through Movement lessons derived from the Feldenkrais method (28 sessions, 1 lesson per week). CONT participants were, instead, put in a waiting list. Pre- and post-training assessment phases included multilevel outcome measures: psychometric tools investigating subjective correlates of body and self awareness; self-report tools concerning the representation of the body image; and central electrophysiological correlates (power of the Mu EEG band) related to the degree of activation of the sensorimotor cortical network during perception, imagery, and execution of complex gestures. Results: Data analysis highlighted, in the EXP group, a post-training improvement in the complexity of the body image representation, paired with greater activation of the sensorimotor network (as mirrored by the desynchronization of Mu oscillations) over central regions during execution and imagination of complex movements. Conclusions: Present findings complement the limited scientific literature on the effect of self-empowerment protocols based on the Feldenkrais method. Namely, they suggest that the implemented movement awareness and proprioception practices might represent a valuable mean to upregulate the activity of cortical structures constituting the sensorimotor network and to improve the responsivity of such structures during execution as well as imagination of complex gestures.