Coordination: Function, Tasks, Role & Diseases

Coordination is understood as the interaction of different control, perception and motor elements. It is important for an orderly human movement process.

What is coordination?

Coordination is understood as the interaction of different control, perception and motor elements. It is important for an orderly human movement sequence. Movement and exercise sciences classify movement coordination as the process and result of an interaction of motor, control, and perceptual elements that serve the purposeful and orderly flow of human movement. Thus, coordination is the interplay between different sub-areas. In sports, movement coordination is considered to be the interaction of the nervous system and musculature. Together with emotional and cognitive processes, movement coordination is one of the important factors for human movement ability.

Function and task

Human movement coordination is explained by cybernetic control loop levels. In this context, the human being is regarded as a system by which external stimuli from the environment are perceived and processed. In this way it comes to the conversion of the respective movement. In this way, the human being is able to direct his movements in the desired direction through the innervation of his muscles and feedback. The first control loop level is called the phase of rough coordination. Here, movement coordination takes place as conscious control. Subordinate sections such as the basal ganglia or cerebellum are not involved. Since the execution of movements in the first control loop level is gross motoric, hardly any corrections can be made during this phase. Only acoustic and visual stimuli provide feedback to humans, which is primarily true for athletes. For example, a tennis player knows how to execute a serve, but does not perceive possible incorrect postures because he does not receive any internal feedback. The second control loop level involves control via subcortical centers. By executing certain movements more and more frequently, they become more and more secure. In this process, movement programs are formed in the cerebellum. Because feedback is given via the kinesthetic analyzer, control of the movements can take place. Responsible for this unconscious form of control are supraspinal and subcortical centers. In addition, during this execution of movement, human consciousness can be directed to other points that are important for attention. The third level of control is control via spinal and supraspinal centers. It is also considered the phase of fine coordination. Through spinal and subraspinal centers, which are located in the brainstem and motor cortex, a movement can be executed safely even when disturbances occur. In sports, however, a person reaches this stage only after years of training. Higher centers within the human brain deliver impulses to the deeper regions of the central nervous system (CNS). At this point, the movement is stored as an efference copy. The impulse then passes on to the success organ, so that the movement is carried out. At the end of the movement, feedback is given to the deeper CNS centers. This results in a comparison of the movement with the efference copy. In this way, the person receives a TARGET-ACTUAL value comparison during the movement. It depends on the respective area of life which tasks the movement coordination has to fulfill. Thus a distinction is made between everyday, sporting and occupational motor activity. The more complex the requirements, the more complicated the interaction of the individual elements. Everyday movements such as walking, climbing stairs or packing objects are considered relatively simple forms of movement that can be mastered quickly. In contrast, job-specific movements must first be learned. The demands on movement coordination are particularly high in the area of sports. There, for example, it is often necessary to combine athletic movements with dynamic requirements.

Diseases and complaints

Movement coordination in humans can be affected by disorders. Physicians refer to these as ataxias. In these cases, certain parts of the nervous system suffer loss of function. The cerebellum is particularly affected.However, damage to the peripheral nerves or the spinal cord can also be responsible for ataxia. There are different forms of ataxia, the name of which depends on the part of the body where they occur. These include stance ataxia, trunk ataxia, pointing ataxia, and gait ataxia. In the case of stance ataxia, affected individuals are unable to stand or walk without assistance. In the case of trunk ataxia, straight sitting or standing is no longer possible without a support. Gait ataxia is noticeable by an unsteady and wide-legged gait. Pointing ataxia is when patients can no longer coordinate their movements. As a result, fine motor problems occur in that the affected person points off or makes wobbly movements. If ataxia only shows on one side of the body, it is called hemiataxia. As a result of ataxia, it is not uncommon for other symptoms to occur. These include speech disorders, swallowing difficulties and uncoordinated eye movements. Patients often suffer from accompanying symptoms such as pain, muscle spasms and incontinence. Ataxia is triggered by diseases in which there is a loss of function of certain parts of the central nervous system. Primarily, this involves damage to the cerebellum. This is responsible for coordinating information coming from the balance organ, the sensory organs or the spinal cord. In the cerebellum, this information is translated into motor movements. Common causes of disease are tumors in the cerebellar area, circulatory disorders, cerebral hemorrhages or a stroke. However, inflammation of the nervous system, as in multiple sclerosis, which damages the cerebellum or spinal cord, also sometimes triggers ataxia. Other conceivable causes are infectious diseases such as measles or the excessive use of certain drugs such as benzodiazepines or antiepileptic drugs. Sometimes ataxias also have a genetic trigger.