Michael Mullin was kind enough to share this email with me earlier in the week. Michael practices at OA Centers for Orthopaedics in Portland, ME. In addition to attending and hosting many PRI courses, Michael also served on our Recognition Committee responsible for the creation of PRT.
I have been working with a lot of dancers—classical ballet in particular—for many years which began when I was practicing in San Francisco. Having utilized PRI-principles in my work for many years now, this population is a tremendous group to introduce PRI concepts with due to their amazing body awareness, compliance with home programs and general attitude towards self-help. Dance medicine has turned into a subspecialty for me and I was fortunate enough to be able to do a presentation this past week at the 2011 International Association for Dance Medicine & Science Annual Conference in Washington D.C. It was a 50-minute Movement Session and the title was: “Developing Optimal Muscle Control to Establish Symmetry in the Dancer”. It was part lecture and part lab where principles of proper diaphragmatic positioning and control were introduced with the use of balloons, exercises such as 90/90 hip lift, 90/90 hip lift with hip shift and hemi-bridge, and sidelying scissor slides were all reviewed. It worked well to have them utilize the balloons initially and then have them tie them off to use as bolsters for the subsequent frontal plane activities. It was a great turnout and this program was very well received with many participants approaching me throughout the rest of the conference asking more insightful questions or even stating: “I heard you did a movement session with balloons and PRI principles—I’m so bummed I missed it!”. PRI-trained clinicians should really consider trying to work this population as almost all of them are in dire need of repositioning, neutrality, and joint centralization. – Michael Mullin, ATC, LAT, PTA
Click HERE to view the handouts provided to attendees.
