News

We are excited to announce and congratulate the Postural Restoration Certified (PRC) Class of 2022! PRC credentialing is the result of completing multiple advanced PRI courses, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the science through completion of the PRC application, and successfully participating in practical and analytical testing. Earlier this week, 10 clinicians earned the designation of Postural Restoration Certified (PRC) under the direction of Ron Hruska, Louise Kelley, Dan Houglum, and Jennifer Platt.

The Postural Restoration Institute established this certification process in 2004 as a way to recognize and identify those 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 PRC credentialing program is available to physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, and chiropractors who have attended PRI courses, demonstrated a thorough understanding of the science through completion of the PRC application, and successfully participate in both clinical and analytical testing. To date, 243 professionals have earned the designation of Postural Restoration Certified (PRC).

To view/download the photos click here.

Back Row: Dan Houglum, Michael Pedersen, Aaron Barnard, Betty Wheeler, Hayley Kava, and Chad Ross
Front Row: Ron Hruska, Louise Kelley, Courtney Stearn, Nadja Himmelseher, Amy Morris, Taylor Boryca, Erin Fiedler, and Jennifer Platt

This course outlines the functional cortical predominance that exists in all humans because of our inert need to move our “self” and our body forward. Our predominance precedes dominance, as our errors precede our successes. Our consciousness predominates our interest. And our brain hemispheric predominance predicts our natural asymmetric anti-gravitational behavior. This is a ‘introspective’ course. A course built off of research and examination, and appraisal of my own mental and emotional processes of human locomotion self-analysis.

Introspective courses can be difficult, very difficult to understand. Locomotor movement is not a simple act. And to fully appreciate how we displace ourselves, we need to relate the ascendency associated with visuo-spatial peripheral flow, chest decompression and compression behind vertical and horizontal displacement and predomination of handedness to the prevalence of unilateral ground control. I can appreciate anyone, who tells me they do not understand what this sentence just meant. But that is exactly what I hope to clarify in a course such as this, by relating concepts of displacement with movement, forward movement, that we all are programmed to do.

I believe, I have taught this course, six times, maybe, not sure. I feel like I have taught it 400, 4000 or more, times. Because I teach humans, guide humans and mentor humans on how to displace themselves to safely and subconsciously move themselves forward. Moving ourselves from our place of rest or position, or submerging ourselves, body or part of our body in a volume of space which would otherwise be occupied by gas in that space, requires progressional displacement of both air/space in and around our body. As obscure as this may sound, it is this acceptance of displacement by our visual optic regions of our brain, that gives us the freedom, the control and the orientation we use to move forward on our feet, through binocular, bi handed and bi lateral chest alternation of displacement.

Immediately after teaching this course I received two emails from course attendees, who said they “got it” and appreciated the course so much, because of this scientific based introspection. This course, in my opinion, helps us understand how important the upper extremities are when we move forward with chest and visual space suppression and displacement, for locomotor placement of the ground we are supported by and for locomotor placement of the environment we are moving through.   

I would like to thank all of the attendees who were willing to reschedule this course because of my, and the PRI staffs, acquisition of COVID a few weeks earlier. I also am very grateful for Julie Blandin PT, ATC, CSCS, PRC and Mark Ragusa DPT who attended the course in person and helped with their acknowledgement and feedback of instructional material. It always helps so much to have someone present in the room when giving virtual courses.  

And finally if you are hesitating to take this course in 2023, talk to someone who has. It should broaden your perspective on the visual, hemi-chest and upper extremity influences on the legs you use to move you, or your patients forward. I will only be teaching this course two times next year, May 5-6 and Nov 3-4. And both will be livestream. Thank you for taking the time to read this review.

If there is one thing that is consistent in Chicago, it’s the rapidly changing weather. With temperatures dropping 30 to 40 degrees in two days, it is a harsh reminder that winter is coming, sooner than later.  

Change is constant and often beneficial. Of course, there are times in which change is bad, but a change in seasons is a good thing in this part of the country. And a change in the body is, more often than not, just what the body needs as well. That was the backdrop for Myokinematic Restoration in Chicagoland.  

It was a great pleasure to have Craig Depperschmidt teach with me. We have known each other a long time (both of us are PRC Class of 2012), and we have co-taught this course a few times in the past. However, it was our first time doing it without also doing a live stream broadcast in Lincoln. It was a lot of fun to interact with everyone in the course as well as with each other.

Craig kicked off the weekend doing a great job of establishing the necessity of position and why position matters. As we moved onto testing for position, we were hopefully able to suggest a change to the attendee’s perspective as to why the tests look the way they do given the influence of human asymmetry. As we discussed the necessity of changing the position of the pelvis and re-training the femurs, our discussion led us to the Hruska Adduction and Abduction Lift Tests and intervention. Our objective this weekend was to change pelvic position, change the job description of the femurs as necessary, and change how the body uses itself against gravity. To be a better Batman, we need to be a better Bruce Wayne.

My thanks to Sam Pare, DC, Nikki Galante, PTA, John Shostrand, Yoga Instructor, and Alexi Gniot, PTA, for spending even more time with me than they have already. We had so many great questions during the course that it is really hard to pick out a couple. It is really a sign of a great group of movement professionals that we could have such a diverse group and have such on-point questions. Thanks to Jennifer Carlotti, Jayme Keith, Cory Puyear, Jen Cohen, and Nikki Wierzbicki for letting us learn from you during demonstrations and Q&A.

It was a nice change to be able to talk about PRI with such a good group of in-person attendees. With the virtual changes we have had to push through the last few years, this was a welcome change, no doubt. I’m honored to call Craig a fellow Faculty Member of PRI. He makes all of us better.  It was a unique experience for Craig and I, and I hope it was for the attendees as well.

Enveloped by palm trees and the salt-water aroma of the Atlantic Ocean is a gem of a clinic: Arise Center for Athletic Development, our host for Postural Respiration.
Arise was filled to capacity, evidence of the thirst for PRI in the Sunshine State. With her wedding just days away, Tia Moir was determined to put aside her pre-wedding jitters and focus instead on growing her understanding of PRI concepts. Tia, I hope your wedding day was glorious!

Postural Respiration lays the groundwork for concepts that are reinforced in every one of the Institute’s courses: the neurology of movement and the role of the thoracic diaphragm on patterned, habitual activity and our nervous system’s state of tension and twist present in all our patients-clients. Through lecture and lab, attendees gained a thorough understanding of, and experienced within themselves, the power of the hemi-diaphragm’s most important characteristic: its zone of apposition. Loss of the left hemi-diaphragm’s ZOA initiates deleterious air flow patterns and is the underpinning of movement dysfunction. Attendees learned how to coach their patients-clients through numerous non-manual techniques that place an individual in novel, biased positions and challenge the nervous system to disengage old movement patterns and replace them with healthy, efficient ones.
Post-lab comments included: “My left side feels heavier.”  “My back tension is gone.”  “I can breathe deeply again.”

It was our good fortune to have in class Amy Brown, PT, PRC. Amy assisted in lab and shared her clinical perspectives throughout the weekend. Amy is well-versed in the PRI approach and is a great resource for the Floridian contingents, especially those starting their PRI journey.

Many thanks to the team at Arise:  David Donatucci, Austin Hetzer, Jen Lewis, Mickey Massucci, and Ahmed Rashwan.  You were instrumental in providing an atmosphere of comfort with good energy and flow.  
Thank you to our models, who greatly enhanced the learning for all:  Joi Dupre, Rogelio Govea, Amy Haddad, Hugh Pun, Ahmed Rashwan, Rosaline Riuz-Go, and Brandon Van Kempen.   
Arise will host Myokinematics next year.  Faculty member Kasey Ratliff will bring her PRI prowess and clinical versatility to strengthen your PRI knowledge and understanding of how the neuromusculoskeletal system really works.

The Big Apple!!! What an amazing weekend with the NYC Marathon and fellow PRI enthusiasts. A big shout out to Yohei at Funcphysio Physical Therapy and his staff Yoshi, Kohei, Nidhi, and Emi for hosting this past weekend.  You all are amazing and gracious hosts. I thoroughly enjoyed "coaching" this group this past weekend. The desire to learn, think out of the box, and ability to have paradigm shifts allowed for great dialogue and questions. The science of PRI fosters critical thinking and creativity in treatment of our patients. I feel not only did the new attendees, but also participants that have already attended PRI courses have a real hunger to understand and learn what the tests are showing them to make decisions with selecting PRI techniques for clinical care. The three R’s were emphasized….RE-positioning to get a negative ADT test and inhibit muscle to enhance RE-training with muscle facilitation to allow the PADT and PART tests to go negative for a frontal plane pelvis so we can RE-store to alternate. Understanding of the Hruska Abduction Lift test to
assist PRI technique selection is THE play book!!!

It is a lot of information, but oh my, just like the Big Apple it can provide so many wonderful outcomes for your patients.

Divergent Physical Therapy and Wellness in Wellesley,MA just out of Boston proper was the location for Cervical Revolution on Oct. 22-23, 2022.  Cervical Revolution is the introduction to “top-down” PRI concepts of neurology especially autonomics and how the cervical spine at the atlas and occiput directs the cranium and ultimately occlusion. Since this is a complex system, there is also a connection on how occlusion and the cranium can also direct the entire body and all of it’s postural and physiologic systems especially when the sphenoid becomes “fixed” and oriented while the rest of the axial skeleton compensates when in a pathologic state. The A/O runs the show until over-referencing with occlusal and cranial consequences drive pathomechanics.

What a great group and facility. Wellesley is a beautiful town and was surrounded by forested neighborhoods turning fall colors. Divergent is a state-of-the-art therapy and training center and lends itself to a perfect environment for learning.

This course was unique in that we had 7 PRC/PRT’s that made for high level clinical discussions. There were students that were local from the east
coast as well as SoCal, Honolulu and even Alabama. Shout out to Alan, Cody and Paige for the long travels and especially Cody from Honolulu and a 10 hour flight. Neil Hallinan, PRT came up from ‘Jersey’ and always has his expertise and knowledge that adds to the discussion. Thank you to Mike, Connor, Garrett and Cameron for providing their facility to all of us. Big thanks to Louise Kelley, DPT, PRC who brings energy, needed details and technique application to the course. And last but not least, thank you Karen Taylor-Soiles, PT, MA, PRC for providing a warm home, wonderful food and a seasoned provider’s insight to the weekend. Louise and I are grateful to you and all in attendance.

No one could have chosen a better place than Alpine PT in Seattle to initiate my presentation of Cranial Resolution. Although the content of this extensively researched course remains the same, the institute is turning the delivery of the material over to a clinician, someone who has spent nearly four decades integrating the concepts behind this course into her practice. And, fortunately, the people attending this past rendition of the course in Seattle appeared to truly embrace this transition.

The evolution of the questions they asked and the comments they made over the weekend, from both the repeat and first-time attendees, reflected a progressive understanding of:

•    How postural compensations of the body relate to lateralized physical, physiological and psychological adaptations of the brain;
•    How oscillatory frequencies influence the ANS and, subsequently, the CNS;  
•    How poor pressure regulation can lead to dysafferentation and over-convergence of occlusion, hearing, sight, and sound production; and,
•    How, why, when and which non-manual techniques (and some manual techniques featured in the manual) can be used to influence these systems.

It was worth flying across the country, from the eastern seaboard of NC to the Pacific coast, to join Ron in teaching this course, even if the 3-hour time zone difference wreaked temporary havoc with my own ultradian rhythms. I met so many remarkable people: The owners of Alpine PT, Eli, Jeremiah and Murph, could not have been kinder, sharing local coffee and their local bridge troll. Eva, who works at Alpine, made an excellent lab specimen, allowing us to clearly demonstrate both the negative and positive effects biased nasal respiration has on autonomics. And having a dentist, Dr. Jason Pehling, present was such a plus since discussions of patients he shares with several of the local PRI therapists truly brought the course concepts to life. Brandon, Lucas, Paige and Matt all asked such insightful questions and Kevin, who spoke of how he planned to use the concepts from this course to treat crazed horses, were all wonderful to meet. And Kelsey, who took this course to be able to integrate the material into a fitness program she runs for clients with Parkinson’s Disease, touched my heart since it was through my extensive work with this population that I first discovered the role posture and pressure played in the dysfunctional oscillations that are associated with the development of dysautonomia, dystonia and dyskinesia. And, Zac, who gave me the biggest confidence boost of all when, being someone so seasoned in PRI, he came up to me and told me that one of my illustrations regarding how sensory perception affects our autonomic tension "was pure gold." It meant the world to me to hear this from him.

It was my first outing in delivering this material, thanks to everyone for being so kind and giving me such constructive feedback. We will all improve as a result of this experience.  

Participating with attendees who are interested in latero-trusive function offered by teeth for cervical and podal oscillatory oscillation, is a dream of mine, that has come true. It requires years of work and effort to reach the natural level of biologic non-denominational behavior offered by an Institute or culture of people who believe in the benefits of balancing biased biologic behavior for optimal growth and development. Skip George and I have often discussed the need to develop “non-denominational” minded practitioners in a society where participation is restricted if specific education and doctrine is not abided by or adhered to. This Occlusal course, is a course that was designed for any person or discipline, who does not need to follow or adhere to a specific tooth occlusal denomination. In other words, having nine dentists whom I have not met before, show interest in this Institute’s mindset on how teeth regulate autonomics, podal pressure, occipital-atlanto oscillation resonance and palatopharyngeal patency is so refreshing.

This is not a course one will find in a dental school or program. It is a course that I developed around tooth ‘trusive’ interferences that are associated with oral and non-oral muscular or postural behavior and respiratory flow. Use of PRI appliances and techniques, that I designed to disrupt teeth interferences that ‘lock’ cortical and cranial bones in unilateral positions of functional dominance, allows dentists to become better interdisciplinary minded movement generalists, and movement specialists to become better interdisciplinary minded dental occlusal generalists. The details on how to improve a bite after limited or non-limited occlusion that reflects a neutral occipital atlanto-state, should be provided by the dentist; and the details on how to improve upright interlimb and intralimb atlanto function, after desirable limited or non-limited occlusion has been achieved on a neutral occipital atlanto-position, can be provided by the movement specialist.

After teaching this particular tertiary course, RJ and I feel it can be improved now, by focusing on these clinical details for both the dentists and the movement specialists in the future. People like Drs. Ryan Huckeby DMD, Jonathon Nelson DMD, Rebecca Griffiths DDS, Hailun Wu DDS, Anne Chee DDS, and Annisya Bagdonas DDS,RN have helped me in advancing this course for future participants. A special thank you goes to Deanna Elliott PT,DPT,PRC for helping me in teaching this course in person. She was a great help and her dialogue was especially appreciated.

What an amazing weekend at The Cantrell Center in Warner Robbins! Thank you Tassie for hosting another PRI course. Your passion for PRI and the science is electric. Almost the entire Cantrell staff was in attendance as well—thank you all for embracing the PRI path and learning. Other attendees were equally energetic in the quest to learn PRI attendees like Gregory attending his 10th course to Kimberly attending her 1st one. This group was attentive, engaged, and asked questions. I loved being your “Coach” for the weekend and sharing Pelvis Restoration with you. Compression and decompression of the thorax and pelvis on the left and right side via the respiratory and pelvic diaphragm integration were highlighted in order to restore alternation and oscillation for Forward Locomotor Movement. I had a lot of fun being in the presence of amazing clinicians this past weekend with their desire to learn. Thank you!

CLICK HERE to view the full photo Album (Thanks to Cantrell Center’s Jen Z.)

On a side note, Kelly—I made my flight.  Thank you for your insight.  I made it to the gate 20 minutes prior to take off. 

What was I doing in a bank vault all weekend, admiring larger-than-life action shots of Steph Curry, Lindsey Vonn, Misty Copeland, and Michael Phelps? Presenting Postural Respiration to a fantastic group of clinicians, of course!   Baltimore’s iconic Bank of America building has been refurbished and now houses FX Studios and the Under Armour Performance Center.

Half the class were newcomers to the science of PRI. The science asks these newcomers to, for a moment, put down your beveled scrapers and dry needling filaments. Pause a moment before you mobilize a joint or release fascia. Put aside any preoccupation with extremity joints and focus your attention, instead, on where movement begins: the thorax.

Throughout the weekend, we cited research from luminaries, such as Kapandji, Hodges, Wallden, Chaitow, and DeTroyer, to support the concepts covered in this course:  
-    Diaphragm zone of apposition (thank you Nate Taylor for reminding us of its importance).
-    Respiratory state of twist that is the precursor to habitual, reflexive patterns of movement and the musculoskeletal pain syndromes that we treat.
-    Paradoxical, inefficient breathing that impacts and reflects chest wall and pleura restrictions.
-    How to restore pelvic and rib cage position, through techniques that reinforce abdominal oblique activity and chest wall expansion.
-    How to retrain previously inhibited, inaccessible muscles to promote new, healthy patterns of movement to better sense the environment they’re in and efficiently move through it.

Lab sessions provided application of the above concepts and allowed participants to discover how the “patient-client” in front of them displayed biased sense of air flow and biased orientation of their chest wall. They learned how to coach their partner to novel positions that retrain the nervous system and promote a new, desirable sense of compression and decompression. All participants sensed freedom from habitual movement patterns.

I can’t help but think that the athletes adorning the walls, all of whom reached the pinnacle of their respective careers and displayed remarkable longevity, mastered the art of air flow, pressure regulation, and chest wall movement variability during both performance and during rest and recovery. This is what we should strive for in all of our patients-clients.

A huge “thank you” to the professionals of FX Physical Therapy for hosting: Matt Bordeau, Sean Jones, Christine Spurlock, Morgan Taylor, Jennifer Tola, and Mary Williams.  

Thank you also to Miranda Stauffer, Danelle Warner, Amy Morris, Kenya Lewis, Dylan Irving, Jackie De Conti, and Kenneth Scott for your willingness to be the models for tests and techniques.  

I hope all attendees left the course feeling empowered to immediately apply the tests and techniques and begin to weave this new, powerful paradigm, one patient-client at a time, into your approach to care. And to the Newbies:  Welcome to PRI Nation!

The weekend in Valencia, Ca teaching Myokinematic Restoration was one for the books. The majority of the class were first timers to PRI which is always rewarding to be able to introduce PRI concepts such as inhibition, neutrality, and acetabulum on femur movement. Getting to teach with Jason Miller PT, PRC was a joy as well and having 2 clinical perspectives added great benefit. Locatelli Rao PT, PRC was an asset to have as a lab assistant and he brought tremendous value by helping the attendees hone in on their assessment skills. They learned the interpretation of the Hruska Adduction Drop test and spent time with the Hruska ADD and ABD Lift tests during lab. We discussed the “money muscles” to help inhibit the left Anterior Interior Chain (L AIC). The staff at Henry Mayo is nothing short of amazing and the facility is top notch!

"Balancing Breathing and Autonomic Nervous System Function through Music and Dance"

The AAPMD conference in Phoenix was one of the most satisfying experiences I’ve ever had. I met so many kind and caring professionals with intense passion for making airway health a priority in our medical system, as it truly should be.

I was asked to give a presentation about how to use music and dance to balance autonomic nervous system function. Luckily for me, one of the founders of the organization is my dentist and he knows all about my PRI endeavors. But it was when I talked about salsa, and how I can change range of motion tests through music and movement, that his interest was piqued.

I reflected a lot yesterday evening after most people had gone home. I ate dinner with an amazing SLP and she believes that the educational system failed me when I was young. Perhaps it did. I don’t know, but apparently I was never the “perfect idiot” that my 6th grade math teacher said I was. Although I never believed I was dumb, my school performance was usually just average (3rd Pic). My self confidence plummeted and never really recovered until my late 20s/early 30s. But it did recover and that has made all the difference.

When accomplished individuals like Ron Hruska and Dr. Howard Hindin believe in you, you start to think beyond your usual limited horizons.

You never know what you can achieve, who you can inspire, and how many people you can help. My path certainly wasn’t what I ever expected nor desired, but you take life as it comes and make the most of your opportunities when they arise.

I’m so grateful for the AAPMD, Postural Restoration and Jose at the Just 1 Dance Studio and my acting teacher Clara Rutt for allowing me to bring all my passions together for an unforgettable experience.