What is meant by muscular co-ordin­ation?

Muscular Co-ordination

Q. What is meant by muscular co-ordin­ation?

A. The coordination of muscular movement is one of the results of training which is secured through the use of the muscular sense.

Co-ordination denotes the association of various muscles in performing work, particularly such complicated acts as writing, walking or piano playing. A man who has lost the power of coordination in the legs, staggers when he walks. This is the cause of staggering in a drunken man or a man suffering from locomotor ataxia. Neu­rasthenics sometimes show this symptom slightly, especially in the hands. Inability to stand with the eyes closed is a test for inco-ordination.

The loss of the muscle sense in locomotor ataxia leads to incoordination. It may be rede­veloped by training, which is of great importance in the treatment of locomotor ataxia and other conditions in which this function is disturbed. Every new association of muscles must be learned and perfected by repeated effort. These efforts are at first painful and exhausting, as for ex­ample in walking a crack or narrow plank. Writ­ing, piano-playing, typewriting and similar move­ments at first very quickly produce fatigue, hence should not be continued too long at a time.