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Every time I see, say or hear the word ‘airway’ I think ‘oscillation’, and every time I see, say or hear the word ‘oscillation’ I think ‘airway’.  Therefore, you can probably imagine how excited I am for the upcoming Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium and for the opportunity to engage with all the speakers who have dedicated their professional lives to these two words. 

A recent article in The New Yorker (February 11, 2019), written by Burkhard Bilger describes our orchestration inside of us.  His first two paragraphs of ‘Extreme Range’ sent me over my edge of containment…

“In a throat, a note is forming.  A puff of air, a pulse of the lungs, rushes up the windpipe and through the vocal cords, parting them like a pair of lips.  As the cords begin to vibrate, they’re stretched taut by muscles to either side, raising the pitch.  The diaphragm pumps more air, rocketing the note up the vocal tract, making its walls hum like the barrel of a woodwind.  The sound ricochets back and forth as it rises, gaining resonance with each rebound, till it bursts into the hollow chamber of the mouth, the ringing cavities of the sinuses, and careens off the palate into the open air.

The human voice is the world’s most astonishing instrument, it’s often said.  It’s capable of everything from a trill to a bark to an ear-splitting scream, from growling harmonics to liquid acrobatics, lofted on the breath like a lark on an updraft.  Instrument is the wrong word, really.  The voice is more like a chamber ensemble: winds and strings and blaring horns, strung together end to end.  It’s a pump organ, a viola, an oboe, and the bell of a trumpet, each instrument passing the sound along to the next, adding volume and overtones at every step.  Throw in the percussion of the lips and tongue, and the echoing amphitheater of the skull, and you have a full orchestra playing inside you.”

Over the next few weeks, I will highlight each of our six orchestrated speakers and presenters, and how their ‘Approach to the Production of Voice, Airflow, and Resonance Frequency Breathing’ strengthens our sense of self and self-satisfaction.  Postural satisfaction requires intimate integrated oscillation from our vocal cords, neck musculature, throat or airway and occiputs.  Highlighting is something I do with every article, book or journal I read.  I look forward to every one of our Spring Symposiums, but this year it will be hard to contain my excitement between now and one of the biggest highlights of my year.

Coming from the Polar Vortex, it was a refreshing respite to be in sunny Arizona for the first Myokinematic Restoration course of 2019. We were fortunate enough to have a very diverse class of attendees ranging from chiropractors, to strength coaches, to physical therapists working in various settings, to certified athletic trainers working with professional athletes.

Myokinematic Restoration is a fantastic course to kick-start one’s PRI journey. This was the rare introductory course where over half of the attendees had been to previous PRI courses. This provided us a unique opportunity to delve into other material that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to cover. We had excellent questions and excellent lab time as a result.

One of the topics that we were able to cover in this course that previous attendees appreciated was the Hruska Abduction Lift Test. This test is taught in depth in Pelvis Restoration as well, but for those who had attended Myokin previously, this was a new topic for them. Additionally, it provided the newcomers a chance to be able to appreciate how PRI integrates the gait cycle and breathing into treatment from beginning to end. We were also able to briefly touch on other topics, such as PEC management and rib cage IR, because of the previous experience of many of the attendees. However, we were also able to stay very on point and keep the course on track for those who were attending for the first time.

My thanks to Jim Wittekind, PT, PRC, for his help during lab and insightful discussion. The staff from 360 Physical Therapy, Becky Fox, Jennifer Peters, Krystina Leal, Caleb Walls, and Jason Roe, were perfect hosts. My thanks to Nathan Whitney, Ginsie Huntley, Liz Cash, Chris Burke, and Garrett Chin for their questions and discussion.

At the end of the day, we all need to be a little more like Bruce Wayne, and less like Batman. And we need to use our "good boy band" of muscles, instead of the "bad boy band" that the L AIC often puts us into. As a result of our conversation around normal mechanics vs. compensatory mechanics relative to the L AIC pattern, we were able to delve into how these analogies applied to our assessments and treatment approach. We were able to spend a lot of time on muscle activity as well as how to apply the Hruska Abduction and Adduction Lift tests into assessment and PRI non-manual activity selection.

We were blessed with a great group of movement professionals, and I was fortunate to be able to help them either continue or start their PRI journey. Thanks for a great weekend!

What a great way to start off teaching my first course of my 2019 schedule at my own clinic here in Southern Pines! Nothing like sleeping in your own bed and walking your dogs at lunch time! I had the help of Sarah Ratti PTA, PRC! Sarah was a member of the 2018 PRC class and I was lucky enough to get to know her in December and have her help during lab!

 I was so excited to teach Pelvis Restoration following attending Ron’s Non-manual technique workshop last weekend in Lincoln, NE. I learned so much and it certainly help energize my teaching and deeper understanding of the Non-manual techniques! I was able to really help my course attendees with choosing techniques and following a frontal plane progress as it relates to the Pelvis.

Every time I teach this course, I learn more and grow not only as a faculty member, but also as a clinician. I am hopeful my course attendees would feel the same. My class was interdisciplinary! We had PT’s, PTAs, massage therapist, kinesiologist, strength and conditioning coaches, Yoga Instructors and massage therapists! It was a 50/50 split of newbies and experienced PRI clinicians. Maude and Brenda were my Pure Newbies, meaning they really didn’t know what PRI was all about. But they left excited that they had been exposed to the science and couldn’t wait to integrate what they learned into their current practice. I was happy to have Malynda Kerksick in my class. Malynda was a former patient of mine and now a PRI enthusiast!

I have had the pleasure of watching her grow as a Yoga instructor and her questions were much appreciated. She also did a great job photographing moments throughout the weekend. She gets photo cred for capturing my pure joy while teaching this weekend. I am so proud to be a part of the growth of Postural Restoration. We get asked all the time which course should I take next? What is the best first course to take? I made sure to emphasize the true nature of feed-forward neurology. You treat a pelvis, you influence the thorax, neck, head and big toe! I hope to see these faces again in a future PRI course! The #PRINation is now stronger than ever before!

A few days before this course, I was reviewing the material and made a remark to Jen Platt on how much “good” stuff is in this course, that I forget about from year to year. It is so enjoyable to have an opportunity to discuss the reasoning one might use before selecting a position to place a client or patient in, before selecting a non-manual technique. What went into the thought processing regarding reference centers and concepts and why is it important to select an appropriate primary reference for desirable “referent” behavioral outcomes? 

Results are based on preparation. Preparing the patient on what to be mindful of, sense, possibly expect, experience, etc. are all more important than making sure they are doing the technique “correctly”. Processing information can be difficult if individual centers of tactility are not explored first. Words matter, word placement matters, word meaning matters, word correlates matter, word integration matters and word synchrony matters. 

This course allows me to review this communication process, inhibitory intensity and neurologic effort for those who have unique limitations but very similar outcome needs, relating to pattern development around asymmetrical design. Over twenty different non-manual techniques, many of which were selected by the attendees, were reviewed, torn apart, discussed, re-designed and then re-designed again, to recognize reliability of approach and validity of use. It is personal for me. And therefore, an opportunity for those who share their transparencies to reap “good” stuff.

Mizzou Therapy Services located at the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute hosted it’s first PRI course, Postural Respiration, this past weekend in a beautiful state-of-the-art facility. What made this weekend significant was that nearly two thirds of the attendees were from Mizzou Therapy Services or new to PRI. This holds the promise of a great opportunity for these therapists to collaborate, practice and potentially master the manual and non-manual PRI techniques taught this weekend.

This is the first time this instructor has taught a course with so many participants from the same facility and the energy and enthusiasm from these talented therapists was inspirational! Since most of the class was new to PRI and attending their first course, PRI principles were broken down in detail to provide a solid foundation to a brand new paradigm. Many of the therapists immediately saw the value of Postural Respiration with working with their COPD patients, athletes from the University of Missouri as well as geriatric populations.

Postural Respiration has been updated and revised just this year and Posterior Mediastinum could be another name for this course. Patterns, position and posture of the diaphragm affecting every vital system in the body were defined and explored this weekend. Columbia, MO is a great college town and has tradition at their sports games from their fans. On one side of a group of fans they will shout " M-I-Z" followed by the other group answering "Z-O-U!" for MIZZOU! This weekend the therapists at Mizzou Therapy Services have a new chant which is "M-I-Z" —"Z-O-A!" for the new awareness of "Zone of Apposition" as described in Postural Respiration!

Many thanks to Joe Pope, PT, PRC for driving in from Eldon, MO to assist. His expertise and skill at describing and expanding on PRI principles and his lab assistance was invaluable. Joe is thoughtful and articulate with his responses and patience. Thank you to all of the staff at MTS including Lindsey, Laura, Mackinzie, Barbie, Katie and all others that helped to organize and clean up at the end of the day. Your energy and assistance with providing such a great facility was much appreciated.

PRI’s online home study courses are now approved for CEUs through the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA)!

As of January 2019, the following PRI courses award AOTA CEU’s:

• Myokinematic Restoration (live and home study)
• Postural Respiration (live and home study)
• Pelvis Restoration (live and home study)
• Impingement & Instability
• Advanced Integration
• Interdisciplinary Integration
• PRI Integration for Geriatrics
• PRI Integration for Pediatrics
• Non-Manual Techniques Workshop
• Postural-Visual Integration

Thank you to our AOTA Consultant, Minh Nguyen for working with us to renew our AOTA Approved Provider status, and get these home study courses approved as well!

Having the opportunity to discuss the role of the hypothalamus and integrated thalamic function as they relate to autonomic patterned respiration, physiology, posture and central nervous system compensation, was an enduring dream of mine. I could finally, deliver a course that describes how our autonomic and central nervous systems operate with and from  biased cerebral and cerebellum lateralization, hemispheric specialization, and oscillatory compression and decompression.

Over two decades of literature review, clinical application, multi-disciplinary experience and evidence based outcome methodology, built with the help of an Institute I started for these course objectives, fulfilled me in ways that are very difficult to express. I trusted an idiosyncratic educational process that challenged me as a pre-dentistry student. A clairvoyant process that required collegiate patience, faith in humanity and belief in our holistic, biological and neurological system. I appreciated the 41 course ambassadors who also trusted this process. I hope they came away with a sense of how we patterned humans resolve to make sense of what we don’t sense through pattern compensation of air flow, fluid movement, and cavity fluctuation as it relates to ischial and occipital (sacral and cranial) rhythm and thus autonomic processing. 

This course was strengthened by the input and participation from too many people to list here, but I especially appreciated the support from Erin Coomer DPT,OCS, Laurie Gribschaw PT,DPT,ATC,AT/L,PRC,  Janine Peacock DPT,OCS, Paige Raffo MPT,OCS and Kelly Martin PT.  I could not have asked for a better audience and support group.   There were many reasons I wanted to give this first course in Seattle but three of those reasons are Christopher Murphy DPT,OCS,PRC,  Jeremiah Ferguson DPT,OCS,PRC, and Eli Zygmuntowicz DPT,OCS,PRC. These three men are absolutely the embodiment of family. I will always be grateful for their warmth, charismatic charm and pedagogical approach. I had so much fun and look forward to the next opportunity to talk about pendular parasympathetic process. 

Jen and I had the pleasure of returning to the APTA Combined Sections Meeting this year in Washington, D.C. Years past have provided us great discussions with both Physical Therapists and Physical Therapy Assistants as well as Students who are seeking these professions. This year once again proved the value of our attendance and allowed us to inform many individuals interested in the science of Postural Restoration. It is so re-assuring and invigorating to be able to discuss our science with those who may not have been exposed prior to attending.

The Combination of both PT students and seasoned Physical Therapist’s provided a myriad of conversations and allowed us to connect with both sides of the spectrum. Many faculty members from various institutions and organizations asked passionately about our science and wanted to be better at introducing it to their students. Many students asked passionately about finding a PRI Clinician in their area for mentorship and clinical experience as they complete schooling. Interests in specialization areas continues to grow and we were excited to discuss our Affiliate programs in Pediatrics, Geriatrics and all others with those who find interest in these populations.

Shortly after a discussion regarding our PRI Integration for Fitness and Movement course we were surprised to see a familiar face come across our booth! Little did we know Julie Blandin was in attendance and literally ran into us amongst the crowd. What a great surprise!

Although running into a PRI faculty member was unplanned, we were lucky to have several PRC’s and PRT’s reach out to us as they learned of our stay in the area. On day 2 of the conference we received another surprise as our dear friend and PRT Navin Hettiarachchi sent us a text. “I don’t know how but I have found 3 tickets for you to tonight’s game!”, we had discussed possibly meeting up with Navin but due to the Golden State Warriors coming to town we all thought it would be difficult to find tickets. Although we loved our first NBA experience it was perhaps more fun to see Navin in action with the team. He is a true gift to any organization, as his smile is infectious and his care for his players is unmatched. They are lucky to have him and we are lucky to call him our friend and have him in our PRI Family.

We were also able to meet up with PRC Heather Carr, who has been part of the PRI Family for many years. It was great to see her and to meet her husband Jan, as they provided us with local recommendations and things to see. Heather continues to introduce PRI to many others and we are so grateful for her support. Our last evening included a dinner reservation with PRI Faculty Louise Kelly and her husband Bruce and it was such a great way to finish our weekend. Bruce and Louise met in graduate school and it was a true pleasure to take a walk down memory lane with both of them. Although the food was great the conversations shared and laughs that were had truly made our last night in DC special.

Thank you to all everyone who made this conference a success. The science of PRI continues to grow and each conference we attend makes it apparent that word of mouth is still one of the best ways to connect and share our passions with others. Thank you in particular to Navin, Heather, Julie and Louise for going out of your way to spend time with us. PRI has a way of connecting people and it was great re-connecting with each of you!

Santa Barbara is one of California’s beautiful towns and would be considered one of our seaside gems. Prevail Conditioning and Performance Center was the location of Postural Respiration this past weekend. Owner and operator, Peter Blumert, provided a superior training facility for this weekend which followed his hosting Myokinematic Restoration last November. This weekend was a first for PRI! We introduced our latest revision of Postural Respiration. This course is packed with new material including a new test for posterior mediastinum inhibition called the posterior mediastinum reach test. There have been new documents added to support PRI concepts with loads of references for this course. In addition, case studies have been added and were a big hit with our students!

This was a course loaded with professionals in not only physical therapy, athletic training and sports performance but included an osteopath as well. Postural Respiration really describes how the diaphragm affects every system in the body. This course connects pelvis position to the ribcage and illustrates that breathing can be viewed as the gait cycle allowing ribcages to actually walk! That seems like such a far-fetched concept to those new to PRI on day one of the course and seems like such a bold statement. By the end of the weekend, every student could see that breathing is walking and the diaphragm and ribcage position and posture is key to tri-planer, dynamic, balanced gait.

We also had a chance to introduce the effects of the diaphragm and the ribcage to the cervical spine and jaw as well. The connection with Postural Respiration and the neck and jaw was experienced by a student when testing HGIR, or internal rotation of a Humerus in a glenoid fossa. She experienced jaw pain during HGIR testing and learned there was a connection of the Omohyoid with shoulder blade, neck and jaw. This was reinforced when the manual technique to release her subclavius muscle was demonstrated. Not only did this technique make her tests neutral but her jaw pain was gone. She also understood that with any manual technique, a non-manual technique and progression via treatment guidelines will be needed. Needless to say she was enthusiastic about continuing her PRI journey! Thank you to Aimee Miyazawa, ATC, PRT for being a seasoned veteran of PRI and a wonderful lab assistant. Thanks again to Peter Blumert for hosting this course as he welcomes Pelvis Restoration later this year.

We are excited to announce the addition of Sage Jensen to our team! Sage started working in our office last week, as the Digital and Media Coordinator. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration – Marketing. She is an Institute of Integrative Nutrition certified Health Coach and is passionate about helping others improve their lives through health and fitness. Sage’s background in web development, photography, social media marketing, and wellness provided a foundation on which she hopes to grow at PRI. Outside of work, Sage enjoys spending her time reading, coaching others, downhill skiing, and spending time with loved ones.

We look forward to having you meet Sage at your next course in Lincoln! She can be reached at jensen.sage@posturalrestoration.com.

Hello PRI Nation!

Returned from Florida this week after a great first PRI course in Bradenton where we hosted some great clinicians from the greater Tampa Bay area and beyond. Many thanks to John Walz, and the team at Request Physical Therapy who provided an inviting, high positive energy environment in which to learn the science of Pelvis Restoration. Our local hub and this weekend’s lab assistant was my friend Megan Bollinger from the PRC class of 2012, whose passion for this science is both admirable and contagious. Can’t say enough about how much I appreciate Megan’s unassuming, caring demeanor during courses and as a fantastic host.

This interdisciplinary group of movement pros, from Hiroki Yoshimoto, ATC to Heidi Goldman, LMT, Sharon Yadven OTR/L to the “Traveling Timlers,” PT’s Megan and Paul was particularly interested in clinical application of PRI pubo-sacral dynamics of the ‘how and when’ to utilize the principles of this course material. We explored anatomy, neurologic application, arthrokinematics and osteokinematics of positioning human systems in ways to optimize pelvis content and surroundings including how to integrate said systems into dynamic living machines with synchronized pelvic and thoracic diaphragms. Our multiple lab times focused on discussing and feeling tests and treatment techniques aimed at achieving tri-planar control of a pelvic as well as its mirror ipsilateral thoracic diaphragm and designing a program to do so. This instructor enjoyed the lively class participation from front row Jessika McNeil and Brianna Nelson all the way to back row light crew Nick Dwyer. We were especially thankful to have both Megan Bollinger, PT, PRC and Karen Hoyt, PT PRC who both practiced and assisted during lab time, allowing us to cover lab with depth sometimes not allowed.

During lab times, thank you Sharon Yadven, John Walz, Megan Timler, Paul Timler, Nick Dwyer, Hilary Arichego and many others for your contribution to the class as we learned together for demonstration time of techniques. And, thank you all for a great learning environment and experience in Western Florida. What a blast!

We are excited to introduce and congratulate our Postural Restoration Trained (PRT) Class of 2019! PRT is the result of completing multiple advanced PRI courses, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the science through completion of the PRT application, and successfully participating in practical and analytical testing. This past weekend, four professionals earned the designation of Postural Restoration Trained (PRT) under the direction of Ron Hruska, Neil Rampe and Jennifer Platt.

Pictured above, (from left to right)

Back Row: Neil Rampe, Nathanael Smith, Peter Nelson, Ron Hruska

Front Row: Jennifer Platt, Lesley Moser, Takashi Mita

The Postural Restoration Institute® established this credentialing process in 2011 as a way to recognize and identify individuals with advanced training, extraordinary interest and devotion to the science of postural adaptations, asymmetrical patterns and the influence of polyarticular chains of muscles on the human body as defined by the Postural Restoration Institute®.  The PRT credential is available to Certified Athletic Trainers, Certified Athletic Therapists, Exercise Physiologists and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists who have completed the course requirements, application and testing process. With the addition of this class, there are now 54 PRT professionals throughout the U.S and Internationally.

PRT credentialed athletic trainers, strength and conditioning coaches and exercise physiologists offer a unique approach to physical medicine and fitness called Postural Restoration®. This approach addresses underlying biomechanics which can often lead to symptoms of pain and dysfunction. All mechanical influences on the body that restrict movement and contribute to improper joint and muscle position are considered, examined, and assessed. Techniques are utilized to restore proper alignment of the body while proper respiratory dynamics are considered. Management encompasses prevention and lifetime integration for long-term successful outcomes.

To view or download all the photos click HERE.

Congratulations to the PRT Class of 2019!