Up until the time I studied human anatomy and physiology at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition in Vancouver in 2010 (having previously studied human anatomy during physiotherapy training in the 1960s), I believed that humans have five senses—seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. But Marieb’s Essentials of Human Anatomy & Physiology explains that we have just four “special senses”—seeing, hearing, smelling, and tasting—and that the sense we call “touching” is a combination of the “general senses” of perceiving temperature, pressure, pain, balance, and position (Elaine N. Marieb, R.N., Ph.D, Essentials of Human Anatomy & Physiology, 8th edition (Old Tappan, NJ: Pearson Higher Education, 2009).

Since having a fractured hip replaced in 2014, I absolutely know that the ball-and-socket hip joint provides the rest of the body with information about balance and body position. I know this because twice since the surgery I have righted myself only moments short of falling. My artificial hip joint does not provide my brain with the information regarding balance that my original hip used to provide.

I realize what this greater vulnerability implies: that every other joint and muscle and tendon is also constantly providing information that my brain takes and interprets to keep me safe. Isn’t that impressive? If you agree, you probably share my normal state of awe toward the human body, actually toward every animal’s body, every tree, every plant, shell, feather, leaf, and perfect drop of water.

When we “lose” something, like a hip joint, and we “gain” something else, like an artificial hip joint, we also gain a new way of seeing and perceiving ourselves.

Have you lost any part of your body in your life? What did you gain in its place? How do the loss and the gain affect your perception of yourself? Physically? Sensorily? Emotionally? Mentally?