With the Vet Rehab Summit approaching, we’re diving into motor learning and how we can bring its core theories to life as Veterinary Rehabilitation Therapists. Motor learning refers to the process through which our patients acquire, modify, or relearn movement skills. This process should result in relatively permanent changes in behaviour, allowing our patients to adopt improved posture, coordination, and functional control through targeted movement-based therapies.
But before we explore the theories that explain how motor learning occurs, we need to understand the challenges the nervous system must overcome to make learning possible.
Two core issues lie at the heart of all motor learning and control theories:
- The Degrees of Freedom Problem
- The Challenge of Coordination
Let’s unpack both.
1. The Degrees of Freedom (DoF) Problem
Degrees of freedom refer to the number of independent ways a joint or body segment can move. Each joint has specific axes of motion, and a limb, composed of multiple joints, has numerous combinations of these axes. This continues throughout the body, resulting in an incredibly versatile and complex movement system.
For example:
The equine forelimb may have up to 15 degrees of freedom, based on typical joint motion ranges:
- Scapulothoracic junction: 3 DoF
- Scapulohumeral joint: 3 DoF
- Humeroradioulnar joint: 1 DoF
- Carpal joint: 2 DoF
- Fetlock, pastern, and coffin joints: 2 DoF each
This rich movement potential allows animals to adapt to their environment – but it also creates a computational problem for the nervous system.
The Degrees of Freedom Problem
First described by Nikolai Bernstein, the DoF problem highlights the challenge the nervous system faces in selecting one specific movement pattern out of countless possibilities to achieve a task. With so many options for how to move, how does the brain decide which one to use?
Freezing and Freeing Degrees of Freedom
Bernstein proposed that, to manage this complexity, learners initially freeze certain joints or movement patterns, essentially reducing the number of variables they must control. This makes the movement simpler and more predictable.
As skill, experience, and confidence grow, the learner begins to free these degrees of freedom, allowing for:
- Greater flexibility
- Improved efficiency
- Enhanced adaptability to the environment
Clinical Applications
A young canine or equine athlete may display a shortened, stiff gait when first introduced to new obstacles such as jumps or unstable surfaces. Over time, as coordination improves, the gait becomes more fluid, allowing for smoother transitions and faster execution.
Similarly, after a stifle injury, a dog may “freeze” the hindlimb in flexion, avoiding weight bearing. Through rehabilitation, we gradually restore confidence and motor control, freeing those DoF to regain full limb function.
2. Coordination and Motor Learning
Coordination is the nervous system’s ability to plan and execute movements effectively and precisely. At its core, coordination is about how the nervous system organizes and controls degrees of freedom to achieve a movement goal.
In the early stages of learning, coordination is achieved by simplifying the task, often through freezing joints. As learning progresses, movement becomes more refined, adaptive, and efficient as the body learns to coordinate multiple joints and muscles across segments.
Functional Synergies
Functional synergies are groupings of muscles and joints that operate as a unit to accomplish a task. These synergies reduce the computational demands placed on the nervous system by creating predictable, efficient patterns of movement.
Motor Equivalence
Motor equivalence is the ability to achieve the same movement goal using different strategies. This flexibility emerges through learning and experience and enables an animal to adapt more easily to varying environmental conditions or physical limitations.
Clinical Applications
When first introduced to cavaletti rails, a horse or dog may struggle with coordination, showing stiff, shortened strides and irregular limb placement.
With repeated practice, functional synergies emerge that support a consistent gait pattern with improved clearance and reduced variability.
With further experience, the animal develops motor equivalence – the ability to navigate different Cavaletti layouts, changes in height or spacing, and directional variations without losing form or function.
What’s Next?
In our next article, we’ll explore the systems of control that underpin coordinated movement, specifically, open and closed loop systems, and how they guide different types of actions in our patients.
Join Us at the Vet Rehab Summit
If these insights are sparking ideas, you’ll love what we have in store at the Vet Rehab Summit on Saturday, 8 November 2025. With the theme Dynamic by Design, we’ll be exploring the science and practice of movement from the ground up, covering handler influence, biomechanics, therapeutic exercise, and more.
🎟️ Live access is free, with CPD certificates and replays available to upgrade.
👉 Register now and take your movement therapy strategies to the next level.
Disclaimer: This article was partly written with ChatGPT during a study session. I take full responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this article – everything has been written, rewritten, edited or checked by myself.
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