Teaching a single manual therapy technique at a time reduces cognitive load in physiotherapy students: a randomized...

Area of Science:

• Physiotherapy Education
• Cognitive Load Theory
• Instructional Design

Background:

• Manual therapy is crucial in physiotherapy education, demanding complex procedural skill development.
• Sweller's cognitive load theory offers a framework for optimizing teaching design in manual therapy education.
• This study investigates how different teaching methods impact students' cognitive load during manual therapy training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the effect of teaching manual therapy techniques individually versus simultaneously on student cognitive load.
• To compare global, intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load between two distinct teaching approaches.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled educational study involved 48 physiotherapy students across two cohorts.
• Participants were assigned to either an individual practice group (one technique at a time) or a series practice group (multiple techniques simultaneously).
• Cognitive load was assessed using a questionnaire measuring global, intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load.

Main Results:

• Global cognitive load was significantly lower in the individual practice group compared to the series practice group (MD = -0.55).
• The individual group also exhibited lower intrinsic (MD = -0.29) and germane cognitive load (MD = -0.29).
• Slightly lower extraneous cognitive load was observed in the individual practice group (MD = -0.07).

Conclusions:

• Teaching manual therapy one technique at a time may reduce cognitive load, potentially improving student learning and performance.
• Applying cognitive load theory to instructional design in physiotherapy education offers practical benefits for teaching strategies.
• This study highlights the effectiveness of a sequential approach to skill acquisition in manual therapy training.