Just north of the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles is the town of Valencia and is the location of the Henry Mayo Fitness Center. This is a world class facility with a combination of fitness training available to the public and rehabilitation provided by physical therapists as well. Postural Respiration was hosted there last weekend to a sold out group of physical therapists, chiropractors, athletic trainers, strength and conditioning personal, yoga and pilates instructors and a massage therapy student who has also been a personal trainer for years and has been adding PRI to his toolbelt.
From a faculty member’s perspective, this was an ideal environment and an ideal group of individuals that came together with interest and energy. More than half of the students were new to PRI and many more new to Postural Respiration. For several students, Postural Respiration was their third and final primary course and was an integration that connected PRI "dots" starting with the diaphragm and delivery of air pressure sense into a thorax. This critical component of exploring asymmetries with air pressure differences into the thorax, driving spinal position and ultimately posture as a result of dynamic respiration made for exciting discoveries of understanding form and function of the thoracic diaphragm and entire skeletal system.
One of the most important learning objectives is how to apply what seems to be an overwhelming amount of information into assessment and treatment of patients and clients. This past weekend there were a couple examples of students who were subjects of PRI exam and treatment. One was straight forward and became "neutral" almost immediately. The other student, or patient example, was more complex and required focused attention on the page 50 guidelines with some tests remaining positive even with the best efforts of the instructor and excellent lab assistants. This individual had a history of ballet and lots of aerobic exercise over the years as well as recent lasik eye surgery. She was also a Superior T-4 patient and a great example of patho-mechanical respiration. One patient example in class was relatively easy, the other required more persistence and follow up care. This is the beauty of having an example of complexity and that PRI has pathways to take a patient further into discovery as this individual will have follow-up care with a PRI practitioner. The good news is this person slept better than they have in some time following PRI manual and non-manual techniques and is thrilled to continue their journey into learning more about themselves and applying PRI to their practice.
Many thanks to Rie Takakura, P.T., PRC for coming out from Hawaii to be one of our lab assistants. Her energy and knowledge was so much appreciated. My friend Locatelli Rao, P.T., PRC made my job easier as well as he provided his expert clinical knowledge of PRI and clinical application of PRI to this weekend. His ability to describe and "coach" technique is a gift to all in attendance. And last and most importantly, thank you Thomas "TJ" Di Prima, P.T., DPT, OCS, ATC for arranging and promoting PRI in this facility. His goal is to introduce PRI into his community at the Henry Mayo Fitness Center and we are all grateful for his support and look forward to returning in 2024. Thank you all, students, lab assistants and the staff at the "Center" for the privilege of presenting Postural Respiration.
