Situational awareness utilizes 4 main systems.
1. Visual
2. Auditory
3. Vestibular
4. Somatosensory
You probably recognize the importance of your vision and hearing on situational awareness, but the other two are equally important to maintaining situational awareness.
The vestibular system is in your inner ear, it allows you to keep a target in focus with quick movements. The vestibular system also corrects your body position into an upright, stable positioning, putting all of that core strengthening work to good use!
Somatosensory system is just a fancy term for body awareness. You demand a high level of performance from this system to have the appropriate response to your surroundings. This system senses changes in pressure, temperature, and lets you know where your extremities are without having to look. You sense that your leg is straight without having to look down at it. When you step on a rock and your ankle twists, that signal that your ankle is bent, and the quick corrective movement to not sprain your ankle is the somatosensory system at work.
Subconcussions can reduce the functioning of these systems, having a negative effect on your situational awareness performance.
I started Subconcussive Consult, LLC to educate tactical athletes about subconcussive injuries, help mitigate their exposures, and facilitate training to optimize the systems needed for situational awareness that may be negatively impacted by subconcussions.
To learn more and to work with me, please email me at contact@subconcussiveconsult.com.