Dr David McGrath

Spine Physician

MB BS (Hons) FAFOM, RACP, FAFMM
Master of Pain Medicine

Analogies can be very useful for understanding complex systems. You may find some or all of the analogies useful to create the understanding you need for a successful outcome.

Useful Analogies

3-D Jig Saw (components must have structural compatibility)
Maze (specific sequence to success)
Snakes and Ladders Progress (faulty movements disrupt order)
Movement Vocabulary (movement variety is a function of sub-routines)
Maps (movement can be facilitated by visualisation/conceptualisation)
Better Reference Frame (easier grasp of possibilities)
Pathways in a Jungle (potential is only realised as pathways are created)
Squeaky wheels get the Attention (protect an endangered component)
Order excludes Disorder (good movements and postures exclude bad)
Rome wasn't built in a day (all movement disturbances have their own time scale for completion and reinforcement)
When all else fails go back to basics (routines can be hierarchical and dependant on simpler foundations)
God didn't give us the blueprint (there is considerable individual variation in structure and organisation)
Stealing from Peter to give to Paul (Relieving the stress at component A while stressing B)
Trial and Error (finding out what works without assumptions)
Running Rough (power, noise and overheating: power, noises, pain)
Changing Gears (efficient movement pathways appropriate to task)
Tuning the engine (movements can be perfected)
Pathway of Least Resistance (Ordered pathways are efficient, disorder is disadvantaged)
Complex Systems (have their own logic)
Order and Disorder (order expands into order, disorder destroys order)
We become what we do (movements are reinforced or inhibited continuously)
Don't find the ZULUS (going into disorder is reinforcing disorder)
Door hanging on its hinges (a movement may not be corrected until an orthogonal movement occurs in another direction)
What am I Doing Wrong (disordered disturbances are the cause of disease )
Iceberg breaking up (moving into inactive structures)
Driving into Sunlight (moving into increased tissue tension )
On the Cusp (equal probability of moving into either order or disorder)
Black Holes (disordered centre engulfing order )
Make Hay When the Sun Shines (don't wait for disorder to arrive)
Cliff Edge (close to disordered disaster )
Caged Lion (contained disorder )
Gaols (maintain order but consume resources )
A Stone Thrown into a Pond (disturbances spread )
Backdoor Access (initiating a movement may require alternate entry point)
A Wide Angle View ( sensitive to smaller peripheral disturbances )
Tossing Two Heads ( probability of repeat success, with even odds, decreases )
Submarine Operator (only knows internal sensors as created reality )
Machine Language (more elemental movements )
Its Like This But Different (the essence of analogy and metaphor )
A School of Fish (movement synchrony )
Bow Wave (movement influence spreads beyond the obvious )
Chain Reaction ( compare with stone thrown into a pond )
Traffic Jam (multi-directional block)
Depressing the Accelerator (trying harder with faulty dynamics is destructive)
Signal to Noise Ratio (concentrate to detect order from disorder)
Rubric's Cube (one area orders while another disorders )
Driving faster than headlights (movements too fast to detect disorder)
Shifting Sands (changing patterns of order and disorder )
The Weakest Link (pathway order fails at the first component failure )
Culture Sculpture (shaping by our medium of social interactions )
Abscess (contained disorder )
Jelly (Feeling the Jelly changes its Structure )
Backyard Garden Pathway ( People traffic should be the decider before paving)
Water Flowing down a Hill (follows its own best pathway )
Treacle (slow adjusting structures )
Snake Strike (high speed movement )
Broken Limb (dys-regulated from its normal inputs )
Space Probe (movement disturbances into anatomical space )
A Dark Room (understood by touch )
Reverberation (reflected movements )
Seed Growth (development of an ordered pathway)
Fragile Beginnings (Poorly connected insight, pathway )
Faint Whisper (low energy disturbance )
Dams In the River (disruption to upstream and downstream function with diverted flow)
Satellites & Hurricanes (A large scale perspective )
Microscopes ( An smaller scale view )
String Harmonics (Different scale movements within same structure )
Road Block (disorder preventing the flow of movement)
Layers of Onion (deeper penetration into an ordered space )
Orchestra (synchrony of different components in an ordered movement )
Tuning car while driving (restructuring while repeating old disorder )
Oasis (order within disorder )
Ecology (order within a system )
Earthquake Vibrations (multiple modes of joint movement and energy transmission )
Don't Leave Home Without It (sufficient movement skills for the day )
String, Percussion and Wind Sections (compares to 3 rotational dimensions )
Orchestra Size (compares with the number of joints in body )
Playing the Same Tune (all joints must be in harmony )
Bottleneck (limited motor patterns to resolve disturbance set )
Throwing a Rock into a Stream (affects downstream behaviour ,not upstream )
Armored Vehicle(components protect themselves from irresolvable disturbances )
Firebug (continuous spot-fires until caught and contained )
Accessory Collateral Roads (important when main arterial is blocked )
Blind Leading the Blind (common with complex system interaction)
Pot Hole in Road (fixing the component will not assist if road not used )
Road Truck Damage (road inadequate for heavy traffic )
Steering around a Roadblock (easier than removing the obstacle )
Obstacle in a Stream (eroded by side stream flow not direct challenge )
Music Skills(basic notes and scales with complex chords )
Building a House (each phase has its own structural requirements and time scale for completion. Often there is a natural and essential sequence )
Operator, Hardware and Software (environment, skeleton, nervous system )
War Strategy (a careful sequence of successful moves )
Potholes in the Road (become worse with overuse of road )
Nail Face Toy (compares to 1D multi-joint movements )
Compound Pendulum (illustrates pattern avoidance of specific joint behaviour )
Against the Grain (orthogonal input )
Swiss Cheese (defects in the rotational dynamics of joint )
Corrugated Iron Sheeting (resists bending at right angles to corrugations )
Cyan (the colour left when red is removed from white ,ie blue green)
Dodecahedron (many facets, one entity )
Vicious Circle (No, only uncontrolled inputs )
Tennis Skills (forehand, backhand, smash, serve, volley )
Piano (available keys, quality of notes, sequences cf joint behaviour )
Tennis Elbow (caused and corrected by a change in pattern, not by a change in opponent or pathology focus )
Poor Music Performance (don't blame the music or incorrect notes )
Use It or Lose It (unused pathways lose their structural support )
Sealed Roads (well maintained pathways work better )
Cylinders and Electronics (changing the number of working cylinders requires new electronics)
Common Zip (a series of structural couplings as with coherent movements)
Chromosomes (double helix coupling and uncoupling )
Captain Cook (meticulous mapping and discovery)
Spinning your Wheels (repetition without advancement)
A Nod is as Good as a Wink to a Blind Horse (loss of reality with perceptual loss )
White Light (convergence of the rainbow)
Rainbows (divergence of white light )
Knot (unravelling disorder )
On Board Diagnostic System (the engine and human body know what is wrong)
Erratic Driving (Repetitive crashes from poor perception or disregard )

Non Useful Statements

No Pain No Gain (pain is a disordered state)
Try a little harder (increases disorder)
Ignore the pain (can be a neutral behaviour only if actions do not extend into further disorder)
Need To Stretch (no evidence of enduring value and needs to be repeated )
Need To Strengthen (muscles are selectively weakened by the specific disorder)
Only Function Counts (poor trade off with increased pain)
Pain Syndrome (disorder we do not understand)
What's Wrong (suggests a component rather than a systemic fault)
Just Fix It (difficult without a blue print)
Diagnosis (may be incorrect, incomplete or invalid)
Prognosis (probability of finding order)
Practise makes Perfect (repetition of mistakes reinforces disorder)

Movement Concepts and Definitions

Known Unknowns (the map of possibilities)
Unknown Unknowns (total possibilities)
Problem Solving (new combination of movement)
Creativity (emergence of order)
Consciousness (order within order)
Health and Disease (maintenance of order )
Stability (low probability of disorder)
Posture (movement destinations )
Order (structural compatibility )
Chi (ordered movement)
Imagination (movements in central nervous system)
Placebo (unexpected increase in order)
Nocebo (unexpected decrease in order)
Minimum Variety (necessary number of movements needed for order)
Logical (an ordered sequence of movements)
Meditation (continuous flow of ordered movements)
Humour (sudden divergence)
Reversible Pathways (reduces likelihood of getting lost in disorder)
Control (reversible ordered pathways)
Pain (a disordered movement)
Improvement (expanding order)
Ordered Pathways (every component is within structural limits)
Theory and Practice (theories generate experiments)
Movement (a changing relationship between components )
Component (static relationship )
Integrated ( no caged lions )
Rehabilitation ( restoration of order )
Knowledge ( established order )
State Determined System (component behavior is totally dependent on its inputs)
Focus (a process of inhibition of peripheral disturbance )
Biomechanics (a framework with focus on geometry and forces )
Biochemistry (a framework with a focus on molecular interaction )
Pathology ( disordered component )
Intuition (unconscious knowledge )

Disseminated Disorder (disorder spread through many components )
Concentration (one movement at a time )
Question & Answer (a movement stabilized by another )
Obsessions & Compulsions (recurring non-useful movements )
Somatisation (social disorder spreading into other stable regions )
Emotion ( a primed subset of anticipatory movements )
Science ( creates new pathways )
Philosophy (explains with respect to a specific framework )
Circles (No beginning, no end. Closure of disturbances. )
Hypochondria (misunderstanding a disturbance origin which has disseminated)
Multi-input (creates difficulty for maintaining order )
Multiversal Movement Framework (the purpose of this paper )
Precision (same movement pathway )
Threshold (minimum disturbance level for transmission of movement )
Too Much, Too Little (dynamic range of each component )
Stress (inability to regain order )
Regression (loss of ordered possibilities )
Structural Plasticity (ability to change )
Sensitive ( well established pathways )
Aging (a decline in dynamic range and movement variety )

Troublemaker Component (remove, replace, contain or transform )
Transformation (only by changed inputs )
Pathway Conservation (inhibits alternate possibilities )
Insight (Inroads to a new dynamic space )
Ambivalence (Emotional cusp)
Mistake (Disordered pathway )
Knowledge (ordered pathways )
Skill (ordered sequence )
Facilitation (one movement triggering another )
Recursion (small adjustment to a repetition )
Memory (repetitive movement )
Myelinated Neurons, Nodes of Ranvier(Active joints in skeleton )
Egg (3D Ovoid of Joints eg universal, interfering domains )
Box (non interfering dimensions )
Guitar Plectrum (2D joint ovoid eg saddle joint )
Straight Line (1D joint eg hinge joint )
Abstraction (repeating pattern in different circumstances)
Phase (same movement with different timing, as with a wave )
Virus (disorder creates continuing component damage until arrested )
Confusion (wrong reference frame )
Wavelength (of standing waveform )
Interference ( inputs from other dimensions and components )
Movement ( controlled energy flow ,ordered)
Flowers (composite patterns)
Tessellations (repeating patterns )
Pain (uncontrolled disorder involving nervous tissue )
Health (establishing and maintaining order )
Pathology (contained disorder )
Disorder (uncontrolled inputs )
Knowing (only by moving )
Knowledge (movement possibilities )
Feedback (controls the disturbance set by external regulation )
Words (composed of combinations of throat, larynx and tongue actions )
Postures (snapshots of a movement )

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