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Treatment to Improve Muscular Coordination

What is muscular coordination?

Muscular coordination, or motor coordination, is the term that describes the combined movements of more than one part of your body. Your muscular coordination essentially entails your ability to use the muscles, nerves, joints, and other parts of your body together to carry out certain tasks. For example, in order to lift a cup of water to your lips, your arm, shoulder, hand, and fingers must work together in perfect motor coordination. Muscular or motor coordination is very important to how you do things; unfortunately, it is also prone to disorders.

Muscular coordination impairment

For most people, body movements are easy, smooth, and seamless; not so for a few others. For the former, activities like moving from one place to another, picking up objects, playing games, and even dancing require very little thought or effort; for the latter, it can be an up-hill task.

If you or anyone you know experiences uncoordinated movements, or find it difficult to do tasks that others find easy, this condition is known as muscular coordination impairment, or ataxia. This condition occurs when there is a failure in communication between the brain and the rest of the body, especially the muscles and nerves needed to carry out the required action. This causes uncoordinated and jerky movements. Ataxia, or muscular coordination impairment, can seriously disrupt your day to day activities if not properly managed.

Symptoms of muscular coordination impairment

For some people, ataxia develops slowly, while for others, it comes on suddenly and without warning. The most common symptom to show the presence of ataxia is loss of coordination and balance. As the condition worsens, you will find it difficult to move your arms and legs, or carry out normal activities. If not immediately detected and properly managed, you may lose fine motor skills so that you can no longer perform common tasks like writing or even buttoning your shirt.

Some other symptoms of this condition include:

  • Dysarthria or speech problems
  • Poor limb control
  • Difficulty in swallowing
  • Tremors
  • Nystagmus or eye tic
  • Weakened muscles
  • Dizziness
  • Depression

Because these symptoms are also similar to stroke, it is important that you get medical counsel the moment you begin to experience problems with coordination.

What causes ataxia?

There are a number of reasons why a person can develop ataxia, but the number one culprit is usually a deficiency of vitamin B12. Ataxia can also be the direct or indirect result of another health condition, or neurological disorder. It can occur as a result of injury to the head, as a result of drug and alcohol abuse, or from exposure to toxic chemicals. It can also be inherited.

Getting help and treatment

Muscular coordination impairment, or ataxia, is a condition that cannot be cured; however, the long-term outlook depends on the type of care the patient is getting.

There is a lot that can be done to help improve the quality of life of people suffering from this condition including physiotherapy, osteopathy, speech therapy, counselling, and medications. If you or anyone you know is suffering from ataxia or any other related muscular coordination impairment, proper medical and health care can do a lot for the outlook of the patient.

Know anyone who needs help? Call Hove Osteopathy on 01273 208410 for expert counsel on how to manage and treat muscular coordination impairment.

Muscular Coordination FAQ’s

Is dyslexia the same as muscular coordination impairment?
To a lot of people, dyslexia is a condition that affects reading and learning. Dyslexia is a common problem that affects 1 out of every 5 people, about 80% of which are children.
While dyslexia is not the same as ataxia despite the near similarity in names, people with dyslexia often have difficulty in muscular control, experiencing poor coordination, poor fine-motor skills, and poor hand to eye coordination. These are some of the aspects that make both conditions similar.
Can you train to improve muscular coordination?
There are a number of specific trainings that can help improve muscular coordination. But it is important to point out that these trainings will be more effective when done in combination with physical therapy or osteopathy. Some of the trainings and activities that can improve muscular coordination are:

  • Juggling
  • Playing catch
  • Target practice
  • Dribbling
  • And any other activity that involves concentration
What controls muscular coordination?
The brain is the part of the body that controls virtually every aspect of human activity. The cerebellum is located at the back of the brain. Below the cerebrum is a very important part of the brain. This is the part that controls balance, movement, and coordination, including how your muscles work, telling them what to do, and how to do it together.

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