News

Neil Rampe, M.Ed., ATC, CSCS, LMT, PRT is featured in SportsRehabExpert.com’s weekly teleseminar interview! Neil is in his sixth year as the Manual Therapist for Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. He was introduced to Postural Restoration® in 2006, and earned the designation of Postural Restoration Trained (PRT) in January 2013. In addition to Neil’s interest and expertise in Postural Restoration®, he is also a C level DNS practitioner through the The Prague School of Rehabilitation. In this teleseminar, Neil discusses his background and experience with integrating Postural Restoration® and DNS in his professional career and rehabilitation of elite athletes. 

CLICK HERE to listen to Neil’s teleseminar interview. Neil’s interview, along with Ron Hruska’s teleseminar interview (open link and scroll to the bottom) from sportsrehabexpert.com in 2011 will be available for FREE for the next week!

The 5th Annual Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium on April 11-12, 2013 has been approved by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists and NSCA Certified Personal Trainers attending this event will receive 1.5 CEUs. The two day symposium focused on “Athletic Performance” will feature 8 speakers from across the country. To learn more about this course and register, CLICK HERE!

Josh Olinick, DPT, MS, PRC has begun writing about the pelvic-calcaneal relationships seen in PRI. CLICK HERE to read the first segment of a three part series where he discusses the sagittal plane. Josh did a great job with this article and his illustrations help differentiate what is occurring in the right foot vs. left foot in a Left AIC patterned individual. Stay tuned for part two (frontal plane) and three (transverse plane) of this pelvic-calcaneal relationship series!

For those of you who know Ron pretty well or if you saw his Twitter posting yesterday, you have realized that he likes to know “What’s your story?” He enjoyed reading these recent emails this past week! Thanks for sharing!

I can’t tell you how excited I am by the work that you’ve done (and are doing), bringing together concepts and techniques from various disciplines, and building a unique and incredibly insightful approach to physical therapy examination, evaluation and treatment.  I realize that your work (as all of our work) is built on the shoulders of others, and I am not prone to hyperbole, nor have I ever had a hero; still, I am awed by the genius of your constructions.  I am reeling a bit from all of the information I have received in taking 3 of PRI’s courses in the last month, but everything I have learned has resonated strongly.  There are many patients who I haven’t been able to help, many more who I could never take to 100%, and I’ve always been very aware that I was missing something.  Though I have treated very few patients with the PRI approach thus far, I am convinced that this is the missing link.  I am a bit of a continuing ed junkie, have taken many hundreds of hours of courses (most of them excellent) and am in the process of completing my DPT degree, but I have never encountered coursework that was this inspiring.  It seems that you are grossly under-appreciated in the physical therapy world and I just want to thank you for all you have done and all you continue to do! 
– Carrie S.

All of you guys at PRI are amazing!  I hope that you know how important each of your roles is.  PRI is really changing the lives of countless individuals each and every single day.  It is not only the lives of the patients, but the family members and also the clinicians that are using this.  I, for one, was super frustrated with being a PT and was feeling pretty much like I was wasting my time before I fell into a PRI course.  It was the first course that Jen Poulin had taught and it literally has changed my life. I know that it is easy to get bogged down in our daily lives and our work and to feel like what we are doing is just ‘work’ or doesn’t impact people, but it does. – Lori S

For those of you registered for the Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium in Lincoln, Nebraska on April 11-12, please note that we have MOVED the course location from the Postural Restoration Institute to the Grand Manse in downtown Lincoln.  If you are registered, and have not received a confirmation letter for this course…please contact us!  Can’t wait to see you in the spring!

Ron Hruska just joined twitter!  Follow him @RonHruska. 

Maryland Sports Care and Rehab in Urbana, MD hosted Cervical-Cranio-Mandibular Restoration this past weekend. With 28 attendees, this was our largest Cervical-Cranio-Mandibular Restoration course in the past couple years! Here’s what Ron had to say about his weekend in Maryland:

“I always become energized when I present information relating to temporal-mandibular-cervical-cranial function. Each of these regions have direct influence on the others and I believe this particular class reinforced the clinical issues that occur when temporal, cervical and mandibular function are influenced by cranial or sphenoid orientation. Genioglossus (tongue) activity was well-received and therefore, will be updated and reinforced in future courses. I want to thank all the attendees in the course, especially the two dentists who joined us, and the fabulous host site for a wonderful weekend!” – Ron Hruska

This week’s featured speaker for our 5th Annual Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium is John Cook. Cook is entering his 13th season as the head volleyball coach at the University of Nebraska –Lincoln. Prior to becoming the head coach at Nebraska, he was the head coach at the University of Wisconsin. Cook also has Olympic and championship experience in his coaching resume. During his tenure at Nebraska, I have had the opportunity to work with John and his team as the Biomechanical Consultant for the University of Nebraska Volleyball team.

“What goes on behind any successful athletic program is leadership. For the last 13 years, I have had the good fortune to work with John Cook, his coaches, support staff, and the team of individuals that have made the volleyball athletes he develops well-rounded, disciplined and ‘complete’. John’s passion for interconnectivity will ‘fire up’ the course attendees on the morning of the second day. Get your seat early!”

We received another great question on the treatment of right ischial tendonitis…

The reason we include a discussion on left ischial tendonitis and not right is because right ischial tendonitis is often ‘cleaned up’ or treated with a conventional myokinematic approach to the treatment of the Left AIC or PEC pattern.  One would start with “pulling” the anteriorly rotated pelvis back to neutral with left hamstring engagement (90-90 Supported Hip Lift with Hemibridge) then proceed with right glute max activity to “shift” the pelvis to the left and “rotate” the pelvis into left AF IR and right AF ER, therefore, reducing strain on the contracting, shortened right hamstring and the proximal attachment of the hamstring on the right ischial seat. 

So in essence you would treat the right ischial tendonitis issue by using the myokinematic hierarchy of lumbo-pelvic-femoral control for the Left AIC patient that is outlined and covered in the Myokinematic Restoration class.  Remember under every PEC pattern there is a Left AIC pattern, so even if your patient had right ischial tendonitis and had limited SLR on adduction levels bilaterally, I would start with the above recommendations.

The left ischial tendonitis patient will need more concomitant cooperation from the right glute max and left medial adductor and left quadricep during left heel strike and push off, to reduce left hamstring strain. 

We were recently asked a great question about some of the wording in our TMCC Non-Manual techniques…

What is the reasoning for the jaw moving forward and to the left in the ‘Supine Active Sacro-Sphenoid Flexion’ technique and forward and to the right in the ‘Active Left Lateral Pterygoid in Protrusion’ technique?

Many of our patients have cranial base function oriented to the right secondary to the human spinal pattern often seen in the human right upper brachium and cranium (Right BC and Right TMCC patterns).  These patterns demand on the right lateral pterygoid (mandible often seen oriented to the left) and overdeveloped right sternocleidomastoid (head and neck often seen slightly side-bent to the left and turned to the left) can be reduced by activating the left lateral pterygoid.  The left lateral pterygoid assists in rotating the sphenoid or cranium to the left through its attachment on the lateral pterygoid plate of the sphenoid, and the base of the skull and upper cervical spine to the left, through lateral movement of the mandible to the right. 

Movement of the mandible to the right promotes good left lateral pterygoid function for meaningful chewing on the right with a balanced forward condyle to fossa relationship on the left during the actual downward power stroke.  Movement of the jaw to the right is, therefore, promoted which is so often lost on patients who are very active on their right side when they chew.  Right sided chewers over-activate their right lateral pterygoids immediately preceding opening and at the end of the downward power stroke on the right, by moving their mandible to the left after each power stroke.  Alternative chewing on both the left and right, is advisable as is keeping lateral pterygoid function balanced, by reducing right neck activity through left lateral pterygoid non-chewing function during the day.  The ‘Active Left Lateral Pterygoid in Protrusion’ is one way to keep balanced horizontal movement during mastication and the right cervical muscles relaxed because of the left lateral pterygoid indirect action on moving the cranium (sphenoid) and occipital base (OA/AA) to the left.

Because of the direct attachment of the stylohyoid, styloglossus and stylopharyngeus on the styloid process, moving the mandible to the left “pulls” the right temporal bone into external rotation and flexion, thus reducing intercranial torsion, and intraoral cants associated with the Right Temporal Mandibular Cervical Cranial (TMCC) pattern.  This technique reduces hemi-extension of the cranium, restores symmetrical cranial respiratory function and provides a complete base for the tongue to function without compensatory glossus activity.  By moving the mandible to the left, the hyoid, dorsal lateral tongue and pharyngeal thyroid cartilage move also to the left, promoting alignment of the airway and pharynx of the Right TMCC patient. 

This week’s Interdisciplinary Integration featured speaker is Dr. Kris Berg. Dr. Berg is a Health, Physical Education & Recreation professor at the University of Nebraska – Omaha. His teaching interests include exercise in chronic illness and exercise in special populations. Dr. Berg will be presenting on day two of the symposium on asthma and exercise-induced asthma.

“The athletes’ ability to perform really depends on bronchial performance. What really is exercise-induced asthma? How does exercise induce bronchial constriction? Who really has it? And what considerations should be made when working with this athletic phenomenon? I can’t think of a more highly qualified person to answer these questions, other than Dr. Kris Berg. Should be an enlightening presentation for anyone who uses PRI principles in maximizing functional performance.” – Ron Hruska

Click here to view the full two-day agenda!

Despite some travel delays due to the crazy weather across the country this past week, we had a great weekend of courses!

Myokinematic Restoration (Portland, OR) – “Enjoyed a great course in Portland with a nice mix of athletic trainers, strength and conditioning professionals, massage therapists, personal fitness professionals, yoga instructors and physical therapists.  A big thanks to Jimmy Southard of the Seattle Mariners for encouraging such a large group from his organization and to the girls in the back row who made such a great contribution to the course, even though they were initially intimidated by their lack of degrees and certifications.  Your interest and passion in learning was felt and appreciated by us all.” – James Anderson

Pelvis Restoration (Loveland, CO) – “I was amazed this past weekend of the course participants and their enthusiasm to learn and integrate PRI in their practices.  The host site, Rebound Physical Therapy, hosted their 7th PRI course this past weekend!!!! When I asked the participants and read their reviews, I feel three things stood out for them this past weekend:  1) Frontal plane integration of the pelvis inlet and outlet with patient function.  2) Improved understanding of inhibition in PRI and 3) Utilizing PRI tests to assist them with making improved clinic decisions for home programs for their patients. Very blessed to have assisted them this past weekend in their PRI learning! – Lori Thomsen