The Chasm in Practice and Why Process Beats a Toolbox of Products

Jason describes the chasm as the gap between what clinicians and trainers learned in school and what they actually see in the clinic and gym. At first Jason thought knowledge would be the bridge across it, but the idea that people change behavior once given better information, the information deficit model, is wrong. Crossing the chasm takes changes in decision models and practice. The core distinction is process versus product. A process is a reasoning model, something you do. Products are individual techniques, exercises and tools such as manipulation, needling, massage or kettlebells. Weekend courses that add products without a process rarely change practice, because there is no way to integrate the new tool, and by midweek clinicians drift back to old habits. Jason's advice is to mentally dump out the toolbox and learn processes of care that work toward goals, suit a range of patients and fit published evidence. Tools should be added back carefully, only when they fit the process, offer something unique and come with a clear sense of when and why to use them.