Give us a brief history of your background.  How did you get involved with the care you provide today? 
It started with orthodontic training in 1980.  I learned functional orthopedics as well as straight wire technique.  This was mostly with the US Dental Institute.  We received good diagnostic training as well.  I pursued as much orthodontic training as I could find through the 80’s and much of it included treatment of the TMJ.  Starting in the 90’s I noticed more TMJ dysfunction that I didn’t understand how to treat, which lead me to seek out more TMD training.  In the last eight years I have seen that the missing link (for me) between the two is the cranial connection.  That also helped explain many of the relationships with pain in the rest of the musculo-skeletal system. My association with PRI trained physical therapists has further enhanced the treatment of chronic pain patients.

Who have your mentors been over the years? 
In order of influence: Brendan Stack, Steve Olmos, Barry Glassman, Gerald Smith, Harold Gelb, Terry Spahl/John Witzig, and Jay Gerber.  There are many more, but the Academy of Craniofacial Pain has been an important part of my development.

Whose work do you most often reference? 
Brendan Stack, Gerald Smith, Harold Gelb.  I have nearly a hundred textbooks accumulated over 29 years on orthodontics, orthopedics, and craniofacial pain/TMD.

How is your practice different from other dental practices in the surrounding community and throughout the country?
Other than spending nearly 100% of my time treating craniofacial pain patients (which less than 1% of dentists do), I would imagine it’s the incorporation of cranial principles into the TMD/ortho treatment.  This directly influences the musculo-skeletal system from occiput to sacrum and all dentists affect this through their dentistry whether they realize this or not.  Unfortunately these concepts are yet to be recognized by the dental community as a whole, so obviously are not taught or discussed at the academic level.  Maybe in my lifetime…but probably not.

Are there other dentists around the country that practice similar to you?
I know of maybe 200 dentists that utilize these concepts, and our numbers are increasing.  The osteopaths and chiropractors are recruiting dentists to learn these concepts.  Ron Hruska’s vision with PRI is doing this and he has graciously asked me to be a part of the process, for which I’m honored.

In our area of practice we find it necessary at times to integrate with other professionals such as dentists, optometrists and podiatrists.  Who do you find it helpful to integrate with and why?
It’s imperative to do integrative treatment with all of these disciplines.  No single discipline can treat all of the problems.  Chronic pain can become its own disease entity so pain specialist/neurologist may be needed at times.  Plus we don’t have the diagnostic, let alone the treatment skills outside of our areas of expertise.  So the unresolved issues can compromise the progress you will make and your ultimate success in treatment.

Over the last few years, you have had several PRI trained therapists refer patients to you.  When is it appropriate for a therapist to refer a patient to you? 
When the therapist finds that they reach a plateau in treatment that can’t be explained, they have influences from a related dysfunction.  That quite often is a cranial/TMD problem.  One of the most important points here is determining which of these dysfunctions the patients ’brain’ is recognizing as the primary dysfunction.  The ‘brain’ will protect that injury at the expense of another part of the anatomy—it’s a survival mechanism.  The head (face, jaw, eyes, ears, etc.) is the most important part of our survival, so it certainly is not hard to figure out what the primitive reflexes will protect first and foremost.

What do you appreciate the most from a PRI trained therapist who is working with a patient at the same time as you are? 
Treatment is faster, and more effective—synergy!  That’s usually the case for both of us.

Coming in March, PRI is hosting its first Interdisciplinary Integration course that includes you as a guest speaker.  What do you plan on covering at this course? 
I will discuss my treatment philosophy, treatment modalities, and integrative treatment.  We will try to show as many cases (treated, and in treatment) to demonstrate this.  I will discuss diagnostic protocols, different philosophies and treatment.  When, where, why and how takes many years and a lot of hard work…I’m a 29 year overnight success.  But I think we can train dentists to do this type of treatment with a concentrated effort in a few years, not decades.

We are often asked for our recommendation of dental courses that relate to PRI concepts, theory and practice.  What continuing education courses do you recommend? 
I would start with the Academy of Craniofacial Pain’s mini-residency program called the Craniofacial Pain Institute.  This wasn’t in existence until several years ago and will concentrate on the necessary knowledge needed and taught by outstanding and experienced clinicians.  From there you can find courses from the individuals I mentioned earlier if they are still teaching, to expand and enhance your knowledge base.  I plan to do in office training as well if there is sufficient interest, but it will be the more ‘advanced’ concepts I use.  Wherever the training is from, you need hands on treatment with live patients (preferably your own) to really see how this works.  That’s when you really learn to tie all of this knowledge together. 

How does the future of gnathological orthopedics and the integration of PRI look to you? 
If we can get the word out and educate as many dentists as possible, this integrative treatment will grow exponentially—because it works.  Ron and PRI trained physical therapists can relate to many instances that this co-treatment has helped patients when nothing else has worked.  Many of these patients have seen dozens of health care professionals, a lot of time and money spent with little benefit.  The key is proper diagnosis, followed by proper treatment.  This has always been true in medicine and always will be, but not always done.  Part of being successful is knowing when to treat, when not to treat and when to refer.  These are the ongoing questions Ron Hruska and I continue to work on.  This process will always be unending.

Allen received his Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy with honors from Elon University in 2003. He began his post secondary education at Northern Iowa University where he studied Pre-Med and earned his Athletic Training Certification in 2000. In 2006, he earned his certification from the Postural Restoration Institute becoming Arizona’s first and only certified therapist. He has extensive experience lecturing to hundreds of physicians and other health care professionals across the country on in-depth biomechanical assessment and advanced treatments utilizing the PRI methodology. Allen currently works for 360 Physical Therapy in Chandler, AZ and is a physical therapy/biomechanical consultant for The University of Arizona, Arizona Diamondbacks and several LPGA and Nationwide tour professionals.

From our records, it looks like you first attended a PRI course in 2002 as a graduate student at Elon University in North Carolina. Do you recall your first impressions of the course and how the information influenced you?
One benefit that I had that most clinicians don’t was that I was in school still.  I was fighting the orthopedic model but knew there was more out there to physical therapy. To me it opened doors where I could see what was going on with the body three dimensionally and how it was going to change the way I thought and practiced. It was very enlightening.

You’ve worked closely with a couple individuals that have been critical to the success and growth of PRI, Kyndy Boyle and James Anderson. How has their support and mentorship shaped your career as a therapist?
In school, Dr. Boyle knew that I was kind of, well I would come up to her and ask a lot of questions. Why wouldn’t she measure this and how did she know if that muscle was tight if she hadn’t checked this? I think she was getting sick of all my questions all the time. She had attended Ron’s course, I believe in South Carolina and had came back really excited. She had met James (Anderson) there and wanted me to do a clinical with him in the tiny town of Glenwood, IA.  I said okay- and gave it a shot. James and I took off from there and developed this great relationship. I went in as a student and really challenged him which I think helped us both learn and really challenged James’ PRI knowledge and skills. Everything sort of took off from there.

And you still keep in touch with them?
All the time.

In what capacity are you currently using PRI?
I practice in an outpatient orthopedic clinic, (360 Physical Therapy). I personally see a lot of spine and chronic pain type patients. I’m the guy that if you’re dealing with a bunch of issues I tend to see those patients in my everyday clinical practice. On the side I do consulting with other therapists and then also consult with professional teams. I’ve been doing that for the past 6 or 7 months.

How did you get started with athletic consultation?
James had taught a course in Chandler and a trainer from the University of Arizona attended. We exchanged cards and he gave me a call after that.  He was seeing a volleyball player and a swimmer with chronic pain and wanted me to take a look. I evaluated them and gave an in-service to some of the staff about what PRI is and what I do personally. I evaluated the girls, and probably within about 2 weeks, after they were both looking at medical leave, they started seeing results and getting better. That (experience) developed into full time consulting with the University down in Tucson. Through them, they told the Arizona Diamondbacks about me and they asked me to come do an in-service as well as evaluate a couple players. I’ve been really fortunate from that standpoint that the people I’ve started consulting with are very open minded and understand how the body works three dimensionally. They appreciate that it’s just not always a straight forward orthopedic answer. They really grasped onto that. I’ve been very blessed and fortunate that these relationships have developed (from my reputation) and word of mouth.

You recently consulted in Denver as well, right?
Ya, about 1 ½ – 2 months ago I went up to Denver to consult with the Broncos.  How did it go? It went really well. Again, I did an in-service and consulted on a chronic labral issue and joint pathology. It was a successful consultation with the patient feeling the best he has in 15 years after only a matter of weeks (using the PRI techniques).

Will you be going back to consult regularly?
I plan to go back and consult about once a month when they need me. I’ll also continue to consult with the Diamondbacks when they are in town, about once a week and head down to Tucson once or twice a month (to the University of Arizona). My ultimate goal is to do even more consulting in the future.

You’re currently one of only 23 PRC therapists nationwide and the only PRC therapist practicing in Arizona. What made you decide to pursue certification?
Well, Postural Restoration has changed my life and career. Because of that, you kind of owe it to the science and to Ron to pursue certification. To put your name out there with those three letters behind it basically showing that you promote a science and Institute. You’ve taken a lot of time to build this knowledge and that’s how you treat and look at things. From that standpoint it was important to me that I did that.

Was the certification process what you had expected?
Yes it was. From the 4 days of the (Advanced) course and the days after. I think it was less stressful than I thought it would be.

Do you have any advice for those considering PRC?
Anytime I’ve went to a course and someone has asked me I tell them it’s not as bad as you might think. My advice would be to continue to learn and become part of this (PRC) group and the Institute and continue to promote the science and to look at these principles as Ron has said is important. You’re in a network and everyone talks together and you continue to promote learning as you go.  That’s really what we try to focus on. PRC is a way to recognize those with a certain level of passion and expertise but it is first and foremost an educational process. That’s what it’s all about. Certification doesn’t really make me more marketable – no one really knows what it means, PRC. It was important to me from that standpoint. People get caught up in what am I going to be able to do with this. I guess you have to look internally to answer that question.

I recently posted an article you wrote for golfers to our website. You also contributed a case study this year on the relationship between left lumbo-pelvic and right upper trap pain. Are you currently working on any other articles, presentations or projects?
The golf article has been printed in Arizona Golf. It’s a specialized golf magazine that all major golf courses around here get. They have columns where therapists or trainers can write in. I’m also trying to get more into writing articles because of baseball and my relationship with the Diamondbacks. (I want to write an article) looking at trunk positioning and the influence of scapular dysfunction and dyskinesis and how that affects a pitchers shoulder and how to look at movement patterns and assess the hip and how that’s going to influence the shoulder. So I’m putting together some articles for that and working on that. I also continue to do in-services and get out into the community to promote the science and do the work around here myself in lonely old Arizona (laughs).

There is a lot of work to do as the only PRC therapist in Arizona. What are the concepts you focus on most when presenting a short in-service to someone who has never heard of PRI?
First I give a background/history of PRI. Then I go into fundamental principles, ie: polyarticular muscle chains, patterns of dominance, arthrokinematics, myokinematics in regards to the postural pattern of asymmetry, objective tests and reasoning for tests and then finally basic treatment considerations with focus on positional facilitation and inhibition. It’s a short version of all the courses I have taken with Ron and James and has always been well received.

Are your in-services mostly physician directed?
And therapists. Every other Thursday, I don’t know if you want to call it an in-service but kind of, with area clinicians who have attended a course.  I’ve just been here to kind of guide them and be a mentor towards them because I know their frustrations. That is part of the reason I’ve succeeded with PRI because I’ve had James and Kyndy. This network is important if you want to succeed with this philosophy because it’s (Postural Restoration) so different and takes a lot of thinking. I would guess if you’re just on your own trying to practice the chances are you may fail because it can be overwhelming. So I do that for the entire phoenix area. We’ll talk for a good 3 hours.

How did that get started?
I just started offering it. My clinic has really picked up on this (Postural Restoration). I want to see them succeed. It’s good to get out there and discuss (concepts) so it’s been really good.

That is great. Too often you hear more about the competition between therapists rather than the collaboration! PRC Therapists often find themselves in a consulting position and therefore in positions to initiate collaboration which it sounds like you are definitely doing! Thanks for your time, Allen.