Integrating Movement and Clinical Reasoning: A Perspective for Teaching and Learning

Area of Science:

• Physical Therapy
• Clinical Reasoning
• Embodied Cognition

Background:

• Current clinical reasoning models in physical therapy focus on cognition, neglecting movement and patient-therapist interaction.
• There's a need for frameworks acknowledging the sensory-rich, bidirectional exchange in clinical practice.
• Existing educational approaches require enhancement to foster embodied clinical reasoning skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a new conceptualization of clinical reasoning in physical therapy.
• To highlight the importance of embodied, adaptive, and collaborative aspects of practice.
• To suggest educational strategies for developing these skills.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and synthesis of contemporary clinical reasoning frameworks.
• Application of complexity learning theory and Grossman's pedagogies of practice.
• Conceptual development of an educational framework for embodied clinical reasoning.

Main Results:

• A shift from purely cognitive models to an embodied, multisensory, and collaborative view of clinical reasoning.
• Identification of key elements: embodied, adaptive, iterative, and collaborative.
• Proposal of a novel educational framework integrating movement and complex reasoning.

Conclusions:

• Physical therapist practice is best understood through an embodied, adaptive, iterative, and collaborative lens.
• New educational approaches are essential for cultivating embodied clinical reasoning.
• Complexity learning theory and pedagogies of practice offer a foundation for dynamic, nonlinear learning in physical therapy education.