My closest colleague, a chartered physiotherapist, remedial gymnast and recreational therapist has been getting my questions on a daily basis for the last 17 years. My desire to better understand when I should refer a client or when I can use my judgement motivated me to question every scenario. He would literally ask me this question in response...

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<h2><em><img class="size-full wp-image-1052 alignright" src="https://biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Screen-Shot-2016-06-14-at-11.33.28-1.png" alt="" width="230" height="238" />"What do you think...?"</em></h2>
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We would then get into discussions, he might present me with another idea to consider, yet inevitably he would question me until I worked it out. He never answered my questions, and it drove me nuts...!

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Yet it was the best thing he could have done, he gave me a gift, teaching me how to critically analyse my thinking, how to challenge everything until such a point when I felt I had enough information to make a decision. Eventually I realised he could have easily shut me up with an answer to my question but he knew I wouldn't learn that way. He took the time to teach me how to work things out for myself.

It eventually got to the point where I would have a question ready but before I asked him, I would work out my answer to his question.. <em>"What do you think...?"  </em>getting ready to tell him the answer. It was then that I realised what he had done for me because I didn't even need to ask him anymore....I had learned how to answer my own question by challenging it.

This style of 'teaching' I now pass on to my own learners, sharing his gift also drives my learners nuts.....but they love it too!

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For some reason it's very common in the physical activity sector (in my experience) for practitioners to feel they just don't know enough, or they know less than everyone else. Yet so many know far more than they realise when it comes to actually helping individuals to move well and pain free. Much of my time in the classroom is showing them just how much they actually do know.

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<h2><em>What do you focus on...?</em></h2>
When I sought to expand my anatomy knowledge in cadaver labs I began to realise the true complexities and diversities of our bodies. Realising most of the books don't tell us about variations like triple headed biceps, 5 quads and a pec minor that ended in the opposite hip...!

This was such an enlightening moment for me, I had this <em><strong>'So what...?"</strong></em> moment.
<h3><em>Yet we always seem to focus on what we don't know rather than what we do know.</em></h3>
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<p class="p2">So this where I have ended up over 3 decades having studied pretty much all the ideas there are in movement coaching......</p>
<p class="p2">Having been the 'ab queen' with my six pack, 'flexibility queen' with my splits and high combat kicks, I also felt proud of my skill in coaching the perfection of joint alignment and I knew what it was to train to being functional too, of course. So I have made every mistake going, yet from all of this I feel I have taken 'concepts and principles' that are more true to the physical healthy movement of a human. I have learned the huge importance of developing a team around you, using  evidence based practice, modern movement and pain education and the promotion of client/athlete centred autonomy with logical progressive graded exercise for a foundation of good practice.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
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<h2>Conclusion</h2>
There is no magic exercise or technique, just simple scientific principles applied to the very individual human in front of you allowing you to discover the intervention that works.

Ask yourself lots of questions like <em>why do I think that? why did I make that choice and not this one? what are the deciding factors? what's the risk? what's the benefit?</em>

Justification is key!

Aim to get really confident about what you do know, but also really confident about what you don't.

Now ......
<h3><em>"What do you think...?"</em></h3>