The coupling ability coordinates partial body movements within the context of an overall movement or goal of action. This learned ability is one of seven coordinative abilities. Coupling ability is trainable but can be affected by central nervous disease.
What is coupling ability?
The term coupling ability comes from sports medicine and refers to the sports motor ability to selectively coordinate partial body movements. The term coupling ability originates from sports medicine and refers to the sports motor ability for the targeted coordination of partial body movements. This ability belongs to the so-called coordinative abilities. Together with the ability to rhythmize, the ability to react, the ability to orientate and the ability to balance and change, the ability to couple forms an important basis for athletic training units. The relationship between the individual coordinative abilities is usually trained and analyzed in relation to a specific sport and its movements. In the context of a sport, the coupling ability determines to a certain degree the learning ability and potential of a person. In this context, however, it is difficult to consider it in isolation from the other coordination skills. To be distinguished from the coordinative abilities in sports medicine are the conditional abilities. These include strength, endurance, speed, and flexibility.
Function and task
Like all other coordinative abilities, the coupling ability is relevant for any kind of movement process. Without the coordination skills, neither gross motor skills nor fine motor skills can function. Especially the coupling ability enables the spatial, temporal and dynamic coordination of partial body movements to achieve a certain goal of action. Partial body movements are thus coordinated to form a goal-oriented overall movement. All coordinative abilities are based on the interaction of the central nervous system, the sensory perception system and the muscular apparatus. Although coordinated movement and thus the interaction of the individual systems is relevant in everyday life, it is all the more important for sports. Movement sequences in sports usually require even more precision, speed and coordination than everyday movements. The coupling ability is relevant for every sport. In table tennis, for example, an optimal coupling ability means a clean stroke technique: leg work, trunk work and arm pull play together ideally. In soccer, for example, the goalkeeper is a good example of coupling ability. He coordinates his run-up, jump and arm movements to achieve his goal and catch the ball. The take-off and the securing require a precise coordination of handwork and leg movements. Perhaps even more relevant is the ability to couple for gymnastics and apparatus gymnastics. In gymnastics, for example, running is coupled with jumping and arm circles with or without apparatus. In apparatus gymnastics, the leg-torso and arm-torso angles are constantly changed in a purposeful and coordinated manner. Coupling ability is also essential for dance. In dancing, for example, the arms can move on different planes or perform symmetrical or less symmetrical figures in asynchronous movements. Thus, with the type of movement, the goal of action differs, but coupling ability still remains a requirement. For this reason, a person’s coordinative abilities generally say something about his or her general ability to learn sports techniques. An athlete in training has well-trained coordination skills. Therefore, he usually has an easier time learning another sport than an untrained person, even though the coordinative procedures of his sport do not match the new sport being learned.
Diseases and ailments
Like all other coordinative abilities, coupling ability is not innate. It is learned, consolidates, and can be developed. In particular, between the ages of seven and 12, the coordinative skills learned up to that point become consolidated. Because these abilities are not anatomically given from the outset, complaints in relation to the ability to link do not necessarily have to have the value of a disease.The coupling ability differs from person to person and is related, among other things, to the childhood spent. If a child does not move sufficiently, then it will have more difficulty later with the coupling of partial movements than an active child. On the other hand, a suddenly disturbed coupling ability may well be an indication of a central nervous or muscular structure. The planning of movements takes place in the motor areas of the cerebral cortex. When these areas are affected by inflammation, hemorrhage, space-occupying lesions, or trauma, movement planning is no longer possible. This becomes noticeable in a loss or at least an impairment of the coupling ability. From the motor areas, the movement plan reaches the cerebellum and the basal ganglia. So even if these brain areas are affected by disease, the coupling ability changes. The cerebellum, for example, is what makes fluid, goal-directed movements possible in the first place. The muscle contrctions in an extremity must precisely coordinate with each other for fluid purposeful movement, and this coordination is commissioned by the cerebellum. The basal ganglia are in turn responsible for the intensity and direction of movements. Only from here do the movement commands from the brain reach the nerves of the muscles. Even if these peripheral nerves have been damaged, this can have an effect on the coupling ability. However, since coupling ability corresponds to spatial, temporal, and dynamic movement coordination, general concentration disorders, disorientation, or psychological problems can also affect this ability.
