What a group of course attendees that came to Postural Respiration hosted by Alta Bates Summit Physical Therapy in Oakland, CA! First timers really shined in terms of curiosity and questions to absorb the foundations of PRI. There were students that traveled as far away as Alaska, Hawaii and Washington State. The course started out with definitions. What is posture and how do you define it? What is neutral rib alignment in a dynamic, tri-planer context? What does respiration have to do with posture and alignment?
The veterans with PRI were exposed to the new and revised Postural Respiration course and the feedback from them was really enthusiastic. One of the new attendees wanted just a little more lab time so he was chosen as the subject of a review of all of the AIC/BC tests Sunday afternoon. Non-manual and single person manual techniques did not get him inhibit is neurological system and at 3:45pm on Sunday, a little PRI magic had to appear! After all, it was the bottom of the ninth, nearly 40 pairs of student eyes are watching and is the student going to experience what it is like to be neutral for perhaps the first time since he was an infant? Taylor Lewis, PRT, a veteran lab assistant (And great guy who uses PRI with Cystic Fibrosis patients) assisted with a two person infraclavicular pump. This young athletic man who was demonstrated on was also a prime example of what one would imagine as having perfect posture on visual inspection (could even win an award for it!) standing nice and tall. Problem was, all of his PRI tests were positive and he was neurologically extended head to toe! After this two person manual technique was performed, all PRI tests became negative, much to his delight including class attendees and maybe even the course instructor! He sat up and said “I feel sooo good and relaxed!”.
Lab this weekend with testing, non-manual techniques and manual techniques was totally fun for everyone and was a great balance to didactic learning going from concept to experience and then having this last lab to send everyone home with as to what is possible when you just keep exploring treatment options with PRI techniques. Thank you Taylor Lewis, PRT, Keren Cahn, PT, PRC as my lab assistants but also thank you ,Tim Dempsey, PRT, for attending while also helping as a third assistant over the weekend. These courses take a lot of work by the host site. Thank you Shaun Buchanan, PT, Marcela Larrondo, PT, Joan Sheppard-Mellows and the rest of the supporting crew from Alta Bates Summit Physical Therapy.
