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I thought it would be a good idea to run through some logical fallacies, with an application to health & fitness. Personally, having an understanding of some common fallacies has helped me keep myself in check, so I hope it can help you too. You may have seen this on Instagram already, but we will elaborate much more in this email.

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The first fallacy we will discuss is “post hoc ergo propter hoc” (or, simply, the post hoc fallacy). This means “after this, therefore because of this”. 

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This is likely one of the logical fallacies you are already familiar with, as the phrase “correlation does not equal causation” is almost a meme at this point, and relates closely to this fallacy. Essentially, we are discussing false causation, whereby people [falsely] attribute the cause of something to some intervention/event that took place in the interim. 

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Here are some examples that will be relatable within our sphere:

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Someone has pain, and they see a physiotherapist because it has been getting worse. They receive an intervention from the physio (doesn’t matter what it is). A week later, their pain is much better, so they attribute the specific intervention [and its proposed mechanisms] to be the CAUSE of their pain going away. 

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Explanation: In this case, there are multiple variables that could have played a role in reducing pain. The trust that the patient had in the therapist, expectations of getting better, reinforcement of positive lifestyle behaviours, or simply TIME, are far more plausible and reliable explanations for the reduction in pain than *most* therapeutic explanations often offered (realignment, strength etc.), but regardless, there is acceptable uncertainty.

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You are a physio, and you are assessing a patient’s muscle strength using manual muscle testing. You conclude that the left hip flexor is weak based on your interpretation. You intervene with some intervention (again, doesn’t matter what it is), and retest strength afterwards. Strength has improved. You conclude that your intervention was led to increased muscle strength.

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Explanation: In this case, we know that simply repeating the test without ANY intervention will lead to an increase in strength upon retesting. If this was understood, it would invalidate countless nonsensical interventions offered by therapists. 

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You cut your carbohydrates in an attempt to lose body fat. And, guess what? It worked. You got amazing results on a low carb diet. You also happen to observe that lots of your fat friends eat lots of carbs. Therefore, you conclude that carbs make people fat.

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Explanation: This is a low hanging fruit, but the person simply reduced their caloric intake in a way that happened support adherence at that point in time. As for the fat friends eating carbs, how about other components of the diet?

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With those examples in mind, you are probably wondering how exactly you can shield yourself from making these mistakes. The first thing is awareness. Often, we don't even think about the possibility of being wrong, and instead we run into conversations with our beliefs strongly held. If you are aware that you are a flawed, biased human (we all are), then you will be much slower to hold strong views, especially if you are not very sure of the exact cause of something.

Along with this, it's important to take a step back and adopt a "zoomed out" view of any problem that you encounter. One of the questions that helps me is the question "what if the opposite was true?". Essentially, rather than looking for information to confirm your bias, you seek out the information to the contrary. This can be incredibly helpful, even in the cases that you are correct, as it allows you to see things from a different perspective, which can lead to a much deeper understanding.

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If you enjoyed this, then there's a resource that you would love, the "You Are Not So Smart" podcast. No, we are not affiliated lol, it's just a damn good resource for exposing your inner stupidity!

Kind Regards,

Gary McGowan

Triage Method