There is an idea called the Pareto law. This says that 80% of the work takes 20% of the time. It can be used in almost any situation, from business management to problem solving, personal training to writing a book. I use it to illustrate a patients recovery plan (and will try to cover this in a post soon).

I also think it applies to our area, not just in terms of treatment processes, but in terms of techniques.Far too many people don’t use their training, expertise and experience sufficiently when working with clients. Instead they fall back on what they know works and do the same thing for everybody. (80% of problems can be solved with 20% of our skill). But every body is not the same. Each client is unique and each time we see them they have changed.

From a therapeutic perspective, this means that we need to reassess and reinterpret them each time, not just do the same thing and hope it will work.

When carrying out a fitness program, this also stands. We can draw up a framework for the series of sessions but need to be flexible enough to modify it as necessary. We should and need to concentrate on what they are saying, how they are responding and whether we are achieving their goals. In either mode, we especially need to take into consideration current research and thinking to ensure we are up to date with what the experts are doing. As with every other part of life, we need to remember the loop: observe, think, apply. Only then will we be doing the best for our clients and ourselves.