The Postural Respiration course was tweaked in 2022 to emphasize more neurology and deemphasize some basic orthopedic concepts that had been a staple of previous iterations of the course. Over the last three or four years, much of the course material in PRI has shifted to a more neurological perspective, with extensive research to support this shift. The interesting thing is that the neurology has been present the entire time in PRI course material, but we are now in a position to present the material in a manner that is different than it has been presented previously. The intent of Postural Restoration has always been to use neurology to affect a postural change on the outside of the body by influencing how the body perceives and uses pressure on the inside. Postural Respiration is one of those courses that is now presented in a different manner than it ever used to be.  

It was my pleasure to present this material in a new manner to a diverse group of movement specialists. We had half the group who were new to the science of PRI, but we had several attendees who had taken Postural Respiration previously, and in some cases, several times. This time around, we were able to present several of the Respiration concepts in a manner that emphasized the how and why behind the internal neurological influences of external postural changes, such as in the case of Superior T4 syndrome. We were able to spend more time on how to assess and treat individuals with a R BC pattern, as well as how and why the intervention for those who present with pathological respiration patterns needs to be treated differently. This allowed us plenty of time to discuss the process of how to set up a treatment plan and home program.

In addition to a great mix of those who were new to PRI and those who were PRI veterans, it was my great pleasure to have six OT's and a dentist in attendance. Their perspective and feedback was invaluable. Kristin Thompson, PT, and the Quincy Medical Group were fantastic hosts. It was a great venue to host a course. Thank you to Dr. Margie Mannering, DDS, for driving down from Chicago to attend the course. And thank you to the OT Crew; Morgan, Donetta, Erin, Alison, Ashlee, and Claire, for their questions and perspective. My thanks to Leah Whipple, PT, Kelly Gronewold, PT, Joseph Derkits, PT, Tanner Kline, PTA, Dric Davis, PTA, and Maya Venzenkova, PTA, for their questions and willingness to let us learn from their avatars. And my eternal gratitude to Nancy Hammond, PT, PRC, for keeping me honest and helping during our labs. She is a wonderful clinician and person, and it was an honor to have her there.

It was an excellent group of movement specialists, and I hope to see many more PRI courses hosted in Quincy in the near future!

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.

Every PRI course has its own unique flavor, and the major reason for that is the attendees. We had a unique blend of movement specialists for this recent Myokinemtatic Restoration course. Many times, upwards of 80-90% of the attendees have not taken a PRI course before, and usually the remaining attendees may have had a prior PRI course, but not Myokin. What made this course unique was most of the attendees had taken a PRI course prior to this one, and for a few folks, they had taken many PRI courses. It was a treat to have Skip George, DC, PRC, PRI Faculty in attendance. Skip's point of view was exceptionally helpful, as he is able lend a chiropractor's perspective to PRI since we had another chiropractor in attendance. It was an honor to have Lucy Yu, DPT, LMT, in attendance.

Lucy wrote a fantastic article regarding PRI and evidence based practice (EPB), and it is in the back pocket of every Myokin manual. I have seen her name many, many times, and read her paper many times as well. She was kind enough to spend a few minutes discussing her paper and how, by any criteria, PRI meets the standard of EBP. It was a wonderful conversation, and further strengthens the science of PRI by demonstrating its absolute support by research.

Craig Depperschmidt, DPT, PRC, and Jason Miller PT, PRC, are training to teach Myokin, and they did an incredible job. When learning a new concept, it is helpful to hear several different perspectives surrounding the topic, as different perspectives often allow the material to resonate more easily with more people. We were blessed to have three speakers for this course, lending clinical experience, as well as personal perspective to the material. It's not often that the live attendees receive almost one-on-one attention during our labs, but that's essentially what we had with three instructors and four live attendees. Myokin is roughly one-third lab time, so our in-person attendees were able to experience all of the tests and non-manual techniques on themselves several times during lab.

My thanks to our live attendees, and their willingness to learn, ask questions, and allow us to use them for demonstration. Their attendance helped the learning process for the live stream attendees, in lab as well as in demonstration. We are very thankful to Angela Marchant, JJ Miranda, Paul McMahon, and Gabrielle Williams-Hubbard. We know you all came a long distance to be with us, and we greatly appreciate your attendance.

And it was Jason Miller's birthday! It was an honor that Jason was willing to spend his birthday weekend helping to teach the science of PRI. It was probably a wise decision on his part to not let any of us know that it was his birthday during the course. There is a small chance we would have called him Birthday Boy the entire weekend. Despite that lost opportunity, this was a very unique and memorable course.

Without a doubt, the opportunity to present the science of PRI to a live group of movement professionals was a great sign to me that we are getting closer and closer to the resumption of our previous "normal" lives. I had never had the pleasure of speaking in Massachusetts previously, and it was a wonderful experience. The newly updated Impingement and Instability course provides a neuromechanical explanation of the "why" behind many PRI concepts and how to apply the science to a variety of conditions and patient populations.

We were able to link the scapula to the calcaneus, femur, and pelvis, so by the time we got to scapular instability, we have the freedom to discuss other avenues of treatment and concepts that we previously were unable to discuss. This is the course we have the opportunity to dive into the concept of talar wobble, balancing hamstring activity, and the pressure sensitivity of the scapula.

Our exploration into the value of pressure management and how pressure is the "Morse Code" of postural and body awareness, as well as how the body learns to make changes to movement strategies was lengthy. This course provides the opportunity to go down some rabbit holes that we ordinarily are unable to proceed into in other courses.   

My thanks to the entire Train Boston crew for a great venue and very welcoming experience. It was an honor to have three certified individuals attend the course: Mike Mullins, Donna Behr, and Phil DeNigris. It was wonderful for me to have your questions and feedback, and those who were newer to PRI appreciated it as well. Thank you for a wonderful weekend and getting back to "normal."