Chess vs. Checkers

Lately I have found myself listening to chess masters describe their craft. It’s fascinating and it’s familiar. It seems all very high-level players have similar characteristics and behaviors that lead to their success. One commonality is their ability to sense not only their own tendencies, but also the strategies of their opponent. One key ability is to know how their opponent thinks about them and their own strategies. This degree of strategy and vision sets them apart from most other players in the world and it is a fundamental understanding of how the whole chess board operates from move to move. Short-sighted individuals end up playing checkers.

Physical therapy, by and large, is a game of checkers for most. A patient arrives with knee pain, the knee and maybe the hip are considered the culprits, with treatment ensuing to target these areas. This viewpoint fails to capture the entire chess board. There were moves made prior to the current situation, as well as ones that have yet to be played which influence the board as it stands right now. Neck position influences positions at the knee, the kettlebell swing prior to this one affects how the next one will turnout. An appreciation for the interactions made at all levels creates a clearer picture of the outcome and may promote a better ability to change it.

Nobody can see nor predict all things in a given situation. There are multiple factors that determine an outcome, identifying the most prominent pieces and running the experiment may develop a bird’s eye view of the system at work. Too often treatment in physical therapy is localized and misses the big picture. We all do this, we zoom in so far that we can no longer see the forest for the trees.  The ability to expand on a problem often yields a more complete understanding and leads to better results.

Austin Ulrich, Physical Therapist