If you ordered this online home study course in the past 6 months (while we were editing), we would like to offer you 2 weeks complimentary access to view this updated version. Please check your email for more information on how to begin your complimentary access.
This new version is co-taught by James Anderson and Ron Hruska (and their pal SYMBA – the rib cage model), and features over 17 hours of content, including case study discussions. Over the past year, our faculty and staff worked together to update the content, structure and flow of this course, and we hope you enjoy the finished product as much as we have!
*Please note that we are still waiting to hear back from a handful of states on CE approval for this updated version of the home study course, so please be sure to check the up-to-date list of Accreditation/CE approval on our website, and contact us if you have any questions about whether the updated course is approved in your state.
Ahh Seattle… How I missed you! I had the absolute pleasure visiting one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the privilege to teach PRI. I flew in early this time and was able to finally scratch my bucket list line item of going up the Space Needle! I visited the Pikes Place Market, took in an Underground Walking tour and learned all about how the Pioneers developed the city of Seattle. I ate my fair share of seafood and fueled up for the weekend ahead.
10 years ago, I assisted James Anderson in teaching the very first PRI course in Seattle. PRI has grown so much in the last 10 years, but nothing like the firestorm that hit this area. Seattle has so many amazing clinicians that have really grabbed hold of the science and ran with it.
I had the help of my PRI friend Zac Hawthorne. Zac did a great job helping during lab, sharing his insights with our class and answering questions.
This weekend I taught Pelvis Restoration at Pro Sports in Redmond, Washington. The staff Amanda, Cory, Siera, and Nathan made me feel so welcome, it hardly felt like I was working.
Pelvis Restoration is a great first course as it allows for a nice blend between Myokinematics of the Hip and Pelvis and concepts introduced in the Postural Respiration course. My attendees ranged from 8 “Newbies” to experienced PRI clinicians. This was a nice mix for learning and integrating effective evaluation tools and treatment interventions. I hit home the concepts of Respiration and Gait as it relates to the inlet and outlet and how that presents in patients suffering from diagnosis of Iliosacral pain, pelvic floor conditions, lower back pain and pubalgia.
My own recent course attendance at I & I, the Non-manual technique workshop and PRI for Pilates really helped me teach Pelvis concepts this weekend. I did my best to keep to the Pelvis concepts but relevant to the science taught in other courses. The integration of outlet and mediastinum inhibition using the objective tests such as how a PADT and posterior medisatinal outlet expansion tests, bridge the gap between the pelvis and thorax.
Special thanks to Taylor, Anna, Lisa, Jake, Elena and Steve for helping with lab demonstrations this weekend. I will now take a much needed rest and look forward to being back on the road in September in the Big Apple!
Who knew that following Ron’s advice many years ago to find a dentist who appreciates the influences of airway, neutral TMJ position and occlusion would take me to Vilnius, Lithuania? I have had the privilege of working with a multidisciplinary team of dentists, Dara Chira DMD orthodontist, Jeff McClendon DMD restorative dentist, and Michael Gunson DDS, MD orthognathic surgeon for the treatment of complex TMD, Airway and Occlusal patients. We have been invited to speak at various dental conferences on our multidisciplinary approach to care (Lips, Teeth, and Tongue to Toes). Most recently we spoke at the Baltic Sea Community on Orthognathic Surgery and Orthodontics Spring course on “The Gravity of Temporomandibular Disorders Treatment “in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The conference opened with dental radiologist Dania Tamimi BDS, DMSc presenting on radiographic evaluation of the TMJ. I just about fell out of my seat when she showed a left cranial side bend and how it affects the TMJ, mandibular position and occlusion!! This made my discussion of the RTMCC so much easier for the participants to understand. There were lectures by orthodontists, and orthognathic surgeons as well. Dr. Mariano Rocabado DPT presented arthrokinematics of the craniovertebral and craniomandibular areas with the influences of manual therapy on the cervical spine and its impact on neutral TMJ. All the lectures and especially Dania and Dr. Rocabado’s lectures were a perfect set up for our team to close the meeting with how we work together to achieve balance for our patients on so many levels. My part was very well received as I was able to develop the PRI concepts from an Advanced Integration approach including LAIC, RBC, RTMCC, muscle chains, forward head posture, asymmetrical patterns and the importance of the diaphragm and attaining proper breathing mechanics and ZOA with its influences on temporal and mandibular position and function. It was great fun demonstrating a balloon technique to 230 participants from 30 different countries!!! I am very excited about the feedback we got after and how open minded the group of dentists were to the idea of occlusion being more than just about the teeth!!! They really do like looking at teeth though!!!!
We were able to stay a few extra days and tour Lithuania and Latvia which included a tour of a 14th century castle on Trakai Island, Riga, Hill of Crosses and The Rondale Palace!! The trip was absolutely extraordinary!!!
I am so grateful for all the continued education and support that Ron, Jen, Jason, RJ and many others have had over the years in helping me understand the science of PRI, the application of PRI for better patient outcomes and for helping me with spreading the word to other professionals on how important it is for patients to work with a PRI minded clinician.
Sitting in the “audience” and listening and reacting with fellow faculty is such a wonderful time, opportunity and fulfillment for me. To do this with a host site that is as welcoming and friendly as a site could possibly be, makes it very special. Thank you Nate Dykema DPT, Kelly Marsman PT, DPT, Kevin Proctor DPT, and Craig Stasio PT so much! To do this with a faculty member, whom I have developed so much respect for over the last few years, is even more life-affirming. Skip George DC, CCSP,CSCS, PRC has been preparing and “dreaming” about teaching this course since he became a PRC in 2014. He has talked to Mike Cantrell MPT,PRC , and me, about the course content and delivery of material since he learned he would be teaching it. He has applied and postured himself, in my opinion, to do this type of work early on his career. He has been a speaker for the Postural Restoration Institute since 2016 and has been so well received by his Postural Respiration course attendees. I asked Hannah Janssen, our Education Coordinator, how would Skip’s course attendees describe him. She quickly responded by saying, “ they feel that Skip works hard at making things understandable and he is passionate about the science and application of PRI”. I agree with her so much. As a chiropractor he understands universal mindsets and applications. We are so fortunate, as an Institute, to have him help us move forward these universal messages in the professional and personal manner he uses.
I believe our understanding of the cervical relationship to pattern development, dominance and dysfunction of the cranium and thorax will be satisfactorily broken down from a PRI perspective by Mike and Skip. They both have been instrumental in the present design, material covered and the flow of the delivery the last few months. If there was an ‘Impingement and Instability’ course for the neck, it would be, in my mind, this one. And both of these speakers integrate pertinent PRI universal concepts of vision, teeth, tongue, and the feet at understandable and applicable levels. I am so grateful for this.
If you have not taken this course, and have met the requirements, consider taking it. If you have taken this course and I was the presenter, consider taking it again from one of these two speakers. The perspective and the manner in how it is presented will be worth your repeated time and expense.
It’s not often that I look out the window at the end of April and see snow falling, but here in beautiful Saranac Lake, NY, this is pretty typical! Matt Powers, DPT, and his team at Adirondack Regional Hospital hosted the updated version of Postural Respiration. This was the second PRI course for many, and they were eager to both expand upon and consolidate PRI concepts they learned in Myokinematics last year.
PRI is a broad science, and this course focuses on polyarticular muscular chain function of the thorax and how it contributes to patterned respiration and patterned movements, as evidenced by neck and belly breathing, rib torsions, asymmetrical abdominal oblique activity, and asymmetrical air flow patterns. Patterned activity can be a good thing. After all, it allows us to avoid an on-coming car as we cross the street, creates the beautiful music of a skilled musician, and gives the appearance of effortless movement in a professional athlete. However, the inability for the nervous system to shut off overly-patterned activity becomes a mechanism for chronic back and neck pain, shoulder and hip pathology, shortness of breath, anxiety, etc.
This course has plenty of lab time devoted to assessment and treatment of compromised diaphragm position and polyarticular muscle chain overactivity. Lab time provided many “aha” moments as attendees saw in their partners, and felt in themselves, improvements in air flow patterns and tri-planar motion immediately following non-manual and manual rib cage techniques.
Ann Marenick, Sara Goldfine, and Brendon Olsen were our class demonstrators of several repositioning exercises and a few challenging lower trap, tricep, and serratus non-manual techniques. Ann was able to move her left shoulder and Sara was able to turn her neck, with greater ease and without the tension and resistance they had felt just minutes before. Brad Collins was the recipient of a 2-person manual technique. Christine Hill and I worked together to help Brad bring his rib cage on both sides into a state of more internal rotation to establish ZOAs and chest wall mobility. Upon getting up off the table, Brad smiled and said, “I feel looser all over.”
Special thanks to Matt and Brendan, who came to the rescue following my rental car fiasco. I enjoyed the one-on-one time hearing about your families and your love of life in the Adirondacks. I’ll be teaching next at Northeastern University in Boston on June 8-9. There are a few seats available, so sign up now!
Last weekend was memorable for several reasons. The first one was the new facility we were blessed to be welcomed into for the weekend. The Children’s Health Andrews Institute for Orthopedics is a new facility in Plano, TX, and it is gorgeous. It’s a relationship between Children’s Health and Dr. James Andrews, and the facility has physical therapy, EXOS Sports Performance, and is state of the art. Thank you to Alex Lopez, Brittani Cookinham, and Stephen Laplante for their hospitality and all the set up they did for us.
We had a great group of mostly first-timers to the science of PRI. And we had a great diverse crowd of athletic trainers, strength and conditioning specialists, and physical therapist/PTA’s. We even had one Physician Assistant.
Myokinematic Restoration provides a great foundational platform that allows us to explore the mechanical ramifications surrounding the hip and pelvis as a result of the dominant L AIC pattern. We were able to relate normal positional mechanics and normal compensatory patterns that occur as a result of the right diaphragm’s influence on the L AIC pattern. After that foundation, moving into pathology and Myokinematic relationships that exist due to the pattern became an exploration of polyarticular chains of muscles. These concepts allowed us to build our assessment and treatment framework for the rest of the weekend.
I greatly appreciate John Key and Katrina Earley for allowing us to learn from them during our demonstrations. There were so many great questions during the weekend, and I appreciate Paul Monje, Rayanne Garcia, Michael Wright, Joni Robertson, Andrew Gallucci, and Meka Venkatanaresh for their enthusiasm and re-states. And a special thank you to Kasey Aikin, PRC for her help assisting throughout the weekend! I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend in The Lone Star state, and the course attendees were a huge reason why. I am looking forward to seeing many of you in future PRI courses!
PRI for Pilates took the show on the road to Webster Groves, Missouri last weekend. The iconic St. Louis arch was a perfect example of a beautifully domed diaphragm. Participants included PT’s, Personal Trainers, Pilates Instructors and an OT. The Pilates newbies to PRI were very receptive to the new concepts and how to incorporate PRI into their Pilates practice. There was great group participation, questions and comments especially from the Laurens, Leah, Tara and Cory.
James did a stellar job explaining appropriate diaphragmatic breathing and the the roles of the IO’s, EO’s TA’s and serratus to this group whose primary focus is the “core”. Sarah had everyone learning to drive in the left and make legal right turns. Donna led the lab integrating Pilates and PRI techniques on the Pilates reformer. We were honored to have Jen Poulin join us to learn how to begin to use Pilates equipment to further enhance her pelvic restoration expertise. Shout out to our host Kelly Ruesing who jumped through many hoops to be present even though she had a music gig in Indiana the same weekend. Special thanks to Nancy Hammond PRC for igniting the interest and bring PRI Pilates to St. Louis.
Each year our Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium brings many different people and perspectives together for collegiate and collaborative discussion unified around a global topic of interest. This year, not only were we fortunate to welcome attendees from as far away as Australia, but we were also humbled to interact with attendees from at least 30 different states over the course of this two day Symposium. The variety of knowledge and unique approach that each individual brings with them, also strengthens the Symposium as a whole.
The speaker panel this year included, Dr. Rosalba Courtney, Dr. Brad Story, Ruth Hennessy, Mandy Harvey, Dr. Howard Hindin, Dr. Ingo Titze, and Ron Hruska. Not only were their presentations perfectly in tune with the overall message, but the various backgrounds present allowed for even more resonance to occur between the speakers themselves and attendees as a whole. The power of PRI from my perspective is exactly this. The ability to bring together A Singer, a Myologist, a Physical Therapist, a Student, a Dentist, a Speech Pathologist, a Vocalist, a Optometrist, a Occupational Therapist,and a couple PhD’s in Voice Studies just to name a few. Not only does this Institute welcome all professions and mindsets, but we welcome them with the common goal of collaboration and integration at the forefront of this patient centered treatment approach.
Thank you all for contributing in your own ways, to the success of this year’s Symposium. You will continue to resonate with us all and your voices will continue to be heard all across #prination
The full photo album from these two days can be viewed HERE!
What a fun weekend of teaching Pelvis Restoration this past weekend in Lancaster. Nearly 3/4 of the class was attending their FIRST PRI course. I know many individuals have opinions what primary course attendees should attend first and many think Pelvis should be the last to attend of the the three primary courses. That being said, these professionals were amazing with understanding new concepts, looking at the pelvis in the detail of position, muscle facilitation/inhibition, and application of PRI tests needed for treatment. Yes, it’s a lot of material, but one must understand it’s the integrator between Postural Respiration and Myokinematic Restoration. If you don’t have a pelvic inlet you won’t get a ZOA needed for trunk rotation (Postural Respiration). If you don’t have inlet and outlet frontal plane control you won’t manage a hip (Myokin). My fellow course participants got it and did amazingly well. What an awesome weekend, learning shouldn’t stop in our careers! Thank you for being open minded to new concepts and I hope you all come to love PRI as much as I do.
A shout out to Cathy Ingram and the rest of the staff at Lancaster for hosting this past weekend. Lancaster had 15 participants from their staff alone attending the course this past weekend. Thank you so much for the set up, tear down and organization. Most importantly, thank you for your passion for PRI.
Also, a huge thank you to Frank Mallon for being a wonderful lab assistant. Frank is humble, approachable, an amazing clinician with a strong passion for learning and PRI.
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.
This past week, at our Annual Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium, we presented the PRI Director’s Dedication Award to three very deserving individuals who have had a tremendous impact on our Institute over the years; Donna Parise Byrne, Dan Houglum, and Josh Olinick. The PRI Director’s Dedication Award was established by the Board of Directors (Ron Hruska, Janie Ebmeier, Jennifer Platt and Bobbie Rappl) in 2012 to recognize individuals’ ongoing dedication to their advancement in PRI.
Donna Parise Byrne attended her first PRI course in 2009, and has taken 28 PRI courses since that time. She was a member of the 2012 Postural Restoration Certified™ (PRC) class. Donna’s background and love for Pilates led to discussions with Ron Hruska about PRI’s integration with Pilates very early on in her PRI journey. This later led to her involvement with the PRI Affiliate Course, PRI Integration for Pilates, which was offered for the first time in 2017. Those who have attended this course, have loved it, and we look forward to watching it grow in attendance in the coming years. Donna owns Pilates Central in Wilmette, Illinois, where she has hosted several PRI courses over the years.
Dan Houglum attended his first PRI course in 2004, and over the past 16 years he has attended 45 PRI courses. He was also a member of the 2012 Postural Restoration Certified™ (PRC) class. Dan spent much of his early career working in corporate PT/rehab settings, and in 2015 he opened Houglum Physical Therapy so that he could offer one-on-one hour long patient care at two locations: Pilates Central (with PRC colleague Donna Parise Byrne) in Wilmette, Illinois, and The Trainer’s Club in Deerfield, Illinois. Dan joined the PRI Faculty in 2016, and teaches Myokinematic Restoration. His students love him, and his background in athletic training, corporate PT, and now private practice offers a great blend of experience to all of those attending. He has put together a wonderful white paper to help colleagues and students further titled, Hruska Abduction and Adduction Lift Tests as Related to the Gait Cycle.
Josh Olinick attended his first PRI course in 2006 as a PT student, after being introduced to PRI by Kyndy Boyle (a past PRI Directors Dedication Award Recipient) who was on faculty at Elon University. Josh and his wife Katie own STEPS for Recovery in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a clinic which offers physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Over the past 14 years, Josh has taken 31 PRI courses. He was a member of the 2011 Postural Restoration Certified™ (PRC) class. In 2010, Josh co-authored “The Value of Blowing up a Balloon” with Kyndy Boyle and Cynthia Lewis, which was published in the North American Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. Josh’s background in engineering makes his brain fit for PRI, and he is always askign great questions, he frequently submits ideas and white papers (see all of his papers on his bio here) to help others learn and understand PRI better, and he always has his patient’s and other PRI colleague’s back. In his spare time, he has hand-crafted around a dozen PRI logos in all kinds of woods, which are proudly displayed in clinics across the country.
Congratulations to all three of these wonderful individuals. We are so honored and proud to know you and have you associated with our Institute! CLICK HERE to view all of the photos from the award presentations.
I had a great weekend in Milwaukee! Nick Rosencutter and his staff were so welcoming. The last time I was in Wisconsin, Nick helped me reinforce the concepts of autonomics as he did the “Ice Bucket Challenge” in a proper Left Stance position of AFIR. He managed to find the video to show this class. Super fun to meet new people and then reconnect at PRI courses!
We once again had a diverse group of clinicians from PT’s, ATC’s, and Strength and Conditioning specialists. The course attendees were mostly new to the science of PRI and taking their first PRI course. Myokinematics is a great first course for clinicians to introduce PRI concepts. I enjoyed integrated discussions about respiration and gait as it relates to an A on F vs. FA activity. I spent Sunday a.m. teaching both the HADLT and HABLT and tying together Saturday’s passive positional tests to help these new clinicians begin their PRI clinical journeys. It is so great to have so many new clinicians and wellness professionals interested in learning PRI. Overall I am proud of my course attendees for opening their minds and practices to the science of PRI!
