As rehabilitation and sports performance professionals our roles is to produce the outcome that will support the patient/client in being involved in their life as they desire, through improved physical performance. If this is the focus, then why not learn from the professionals whose focus is on producing the specific unique outcomes? Those in the arts have a skill set that promotes the creation of outcomes over varying time frames. It’s an orientation, skill set, and approach that are present in both the arts and those in the sciences that have developed successful careers of getting the result.
What do those in the arts know that maybe useful for the professional working with human movement and its impact on function? Artists learn to organize change through the manipulation of structure using a variety of subject matters including materials, time, and space. Artists understand choice. Tens to hundreds to possibly thousands of individual choices and actions are taken on behalf of creating the desired outcome. The choices are focused. These choices result in the establishment of internal relationships within the piece that creates dynamic tensions or stability. The way these choices are organized produces a groove that makes subsequent choices easier to make. In this way the artist can compose many different outcomes consistently.
As rehabilitation professionals, the compositions produce include plans of care, treatment plans, movement lessons, and more, all of which also have their internal structures.
This groove that is created will cause a tendency towards actions, or more specifically behavior. Take for example the way the groove is used by the visual artist in causing the audience to follow a train of thought. The groove can be recognized in the visual as in a painting, or in a photo, or a movie, in which the viewer’s eye follows a certain trajectory. Information is presented in a sequence in this way, which informs the mind of what is being expressed. If the visual path was to be different, the sequence of information would be different, resulting in new relationships, new information and a completely different set of information for the brain to relate.
In a plan of care how the information is organized also supports behaviors as each underlying structure produces tensions that the brain seeks to resolve. In a treatment to improve dynamic balance, the use of the groove can produce improved motor learning, skill acquisition and prepare for future learning to be more easily attained. In music, the groove is often found on the base line. The groove is the result of a choice of rhythm, sequencing of notes arranged in such a way that the bass line supports upcoming selections. It’s found in the toe tapping beats and rhythms that allow the rock musician to impromptu free flowing guitar solos, and the rap artist the confidence to free form when the groove is present. Without the groove the brain loses interest and the body is still.
Professionals who have mastered their craft have this ability to generate their own momentum. They do not rely upon circumstances to produce results. They have learned through mentor ship and practice, how to create the groove, and use its benefits to consistently create results with their clients. What is the role of experience? Experience definitely helps, however It is not simply the amount of time spent in the clinic that develops these skills. There are many seasoned clinicians that continue to have intermittent success. And what about commitment to certain style or approach? Each clinician has unique talents that styles can support, but again it is not just a certain style or approach. If one style did the trick then there would be no need for other approaches.
In the next article we will continue to examine how the groove provides a focus towards treatment planning, implementation and supports the change of direction when the initial approach has not produced the level of involvement that the patient or client desires.