News

Jason Masek has been busy blogging at the Hruska Clinic. CLICK HERE to read his patient-friendly analogies.

After 2 years of planning, Estelle LeClair, MPT, PRC of Essex Physical Therapy in Essex Junction, Vermont is proud to announce her plan for the first PRI Aquatic System!  Planning and design work is well under way with the pool scheduled to arrive this summer and open in the in 2012. We are excited to work with the Postural Restoration team to begin treating patients in the pool using the PRI principles that work for so many on land.  A huge thank you to Ron for bringing the science of Postural Restoration to aquatic design so that we are able to help more patients integrate PRI principles into daily living.  We are thrilled to be bringing this technology to Vermont, where PRI concepts are widely utilized in many physical therapy clinics and look forward to the collaborative efforts to improve patient outcomes through the use of this facility.

Before attending my first PRI course several years ago, I often felt as if my patients were stuck in a revolving door – we often “fixed” one problem only to have them return with a new injury or a different body part hurting.  The Interdisciplinary Integration and Cervical-Cranio-Mandibular Restoration courses provided invaluable insight into when and why our patients need another discipline to accomplish their goals.  The proverbial light bulb switched on.  I began working with a local dentist who has expertise in splint fabrication, and through him was introduced to Herb Blumenthal, DDS, an expert in non-surgical evaluation and treatment of TMD.  Dr. Blumenthal has utilized an interdisciplinary approach in his practice for many years.  He enlists the support of chiropractors, massage therapists, and cranio-sacral therapists in his treatment of complex patients with stomatognathic dysfunction.  Notice that he did not include Physical Therapists in that list.  As he explained to me, he often did not accomplish good outcomes with PTs, as they do not understand the relationships between muscular activity in polyarticular chains and occlusal patterns.  He was so impressed with how PRI evaluation and treatment coordinates with and compliments his dental intervention that he invited me to join him in Arizona, presenting to a group of dentists.  It was a wonderful experience; the dentists made immediate connections between common postural adaptations as described by PRI, and what they see daily in their clinics.  They recognized that a PRI trained therapist can be invaluable in helping them accomplish optimal results with their patients’ splint therapy, and with their own issues of pain and dysfunction.  After all, those in the dental profession have jobs with “attitude” involving strong patterns of sustained and repetitive neuro-motor activity. Surprisingly, only 1 dentist had referred to a PT.  The rest had no idea how to find and make contact with a qualified therapist.  I highly encourage each PRI trained therapist to seek out and promote working relationships with dentists that specialize in TMD.  These individuals have experience with splints in addition to the flat plane splints most commonly made by general dentists, and will be open to how splinting can be used in the treatment of not only TMD, but other types of head and neck pain.  I am grateful that my PRI training has enabled me to change that revolving door into an open door of cooperation with others as we strive to attain the best possible therapeutic outcomes for our patients. – Kathy Johnson

We have added the following courses to our 2011 schedule:

May 14-15
Postural Respiration
Rockford, IL

September 17-18
Myokinematic Restoration
Seattle, WA

September 24-25
Pelvis Restoration
Essex Junction, VT

November 5-6 (moved from September 17-18)
Impingement & Instability
Seattle, WA

Addalyn Renee Rappl! Addy was born on Saturday, January 8th, 6 lbs. 12 oz. 19 1/2 in.
Bobbie, Mark and Addy are doing great! Thank you for all the emails and calls wishing them well. We look forward to Bobbie’s return in March and in the meantime we are enjoying their occasional visits and photos:)

Ron Hruska was invited to participate in the 2011 Sports Rehab to Sports Performance Teleseminar. The teleseminar is launching on January 11th with a new interview going up every week through March 15. Ron’s interview is scheduled for January 18th. The interviews are FREE to all, but you do need to SIGN-UP in order to receive links to the interviews.  Here is the complete speaker line up this year:

Sue Falsone PT, Athletes’ Performance and LA Dodgers
Ron Hruska – PT, Postural Restoration Institute
Dr. Mike Leahy – DC, Active Release Technique
Thomas Myers – LMT,  author “Anatomy Trains”
Brian Grasso – International Youth Conditioning Association
Greg Roskopf – Muscle Activation Technique
Brian Mulligan – PT, Mulligan Concept, Mobilizations with Movement
Dr. Warren Hammer – DC,  Graston Technique, Fascial Manipulation
Dan John – Strength Coach, author “Never Let Go”
Gray Cook – PT, FMS,  author “Movement’ Book”

Click HERE to read more about each speaker and the topics they will discuss.

Ron Hruska will be traveling to Virginia Beach on January 15-16 to present Impingement & Instability. We have confirmed the course with 11 attendees. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn in this small course environment. You’ll have ample opportunity for question and answer discussion. Specific guidelines will be offered for assessment and treatment of calcaneal instability, knee instability, hip impingement, shoulder impingement, and multidirectional HG and FA instability. Here are a few comments from previous attendees:

Thank you for the Impingement and Instability course.  I am glad you focused on the “system” and integrating it.  I had an AHA moment and now I’m looking for what I should inhibit and use to get patients into neutral without any manual techniques.  It’s faster and easier to look for what to turn off and shut down to start retraining.

This course in some ways was more integrated than the Advanced Integration course.  I found it very useful at “pulling” together a lot of ideas and concepts.  The main concepts of calcaneal instability, patellar instability, pelvic instability and scapular instability are fantastic!

Our 2011 course brochure is hot off the press! Click HERE to view an electronic copy or contact us with your address to be sure that one arrives in your mailbox.

“Integrating AF IR and AF ER into Single Leg Dynamic Training” is the latest article written by Lisa Bartels, PT, PRC for the Performance Conditioning newsletter.  You can read it HERE!

The 3rd Annual PRC Meeting is scheduled for Saturday February 19th in Salt Lake City, Utah.  If you are a PRC and planning on attending there are a block of rooms reserved at:

SLC Marriot University Park
Contact person is Scott Pirraglio at 801-581-1000

If you have any questions about the meeting, please contact Jen Poulin or James Anderson.

Looking forward to Advanced Integration.  We had so much fun last year…..learning, pizza study parties, and even a Nebraska football game party!

Happy turkey day to all!
Liz Wheeler