Posts by Dan Houglum

MSPT, ATC/L, PRC

The Impingement & Instability course has been a clinician's course for a long time. And that is even more the case now than ever before. I&I has evolved into an excellent precursor for the PRI Cervical, Cranial, Voice Box, and Forward Locomotion courses. This was very evident in the most recent presentation of I&I, which just happened to be the final delivery of this course for 2023.  

Since it is a Secondary Course, the course has the opportunity to go into several different directions, depending on who is in attendance and the questions the attendees ask. This is one of the primary reasons that each I&I course is different every time it's presented.  

We were able to touch upon content from a multitude of courses, but our focus remained on the value and necessity of both Impingement and Instability as great concepts, which lead us into the value of alternating compression and decompression to increase our ability to become less functionally cortically dominant. Being able to properly manage a system below C7 allows management of issues above C7 to become easier. As a result, we start drawing the connection between the scapula and calcaneus from very, very early on Day One.  

My thanks to Torin Berge, PT, PRC, for his help digest and break down the 4 unique non-manual techniques that are in this course. We were able to have an in-depth discussion about the value of these techniques, which was a treat. My thanks to Nancy Hammond, PT, PRC and Hayley Kava, PT, PRC for their questions and presence. And none of the live-stream would have been possible without RJ Hruska and his direction and production of this course.  It is not lost on us that the live-stream has expanded PRI Nation, and I am eternally grateful for all of those in attendance who live in other parts of the world.

 

If you haven't had an opportunity to attend the I&I course, I would encourage you to do so as every course is different, depending on the movement specialists present. My thanks to all of the movement specialists who were in attendance, and I look forward to teaching this course in 2024.

Posted September 13, 2023 at 6:35PM
Categories: Courses Science

I had the distinct pleasure to have the opportunity to travel to Munich, Germany, and teach the PRI courses Myokinematic Restoration and Impingement and Instability. It was a very rewarding experience to see how the science of PRI is received in another part of the world. And it was a great experience to be immersed in a different culture for almost two weeks.  

The first course presented was Myokin. We had 25 people attend the course from varying parts of Germany as well as neighboring countries Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Austria. This was a unique experience because usually when Myokin is presented, 90% of the attendees have never taken a PRI course before. For this course,19 of the attendees had taken multiple PRI courses, as well as Myokin previously. I made a point right away to make sure we ensured that those who had not taken a PRI course previously had a great experience.

As a result of so many of the attendees being PRI veterans, we had many, many great questions and discussions. And while some of questions pertained to other PRI coursework, we were able to stay on course and continue to meet the needs of those who were new to PRI. I'm not sure I have ever taught a PRI course where every single attendee asked at least one question. But that was the case with this stellar group. Such energy and interest in the science an application of PRI concepts!

The second course we presented was Impingement and Instability. Because this is a Secondary Course in PRI, everyone had taken several PRI courses previously. Again, this led to lively discussion and questions. We were able to use the concepts of I&I and start building a bridge between the Primary PRI courses and the other Secondary and Tertiary PRI Courses. I&I is an ever-evolving course. It was immensely rewarding to have the opportunity to help these attendees in their PRI journey to better understand and apply the science and concepts of PRI.

 

My eternal gratitude to the Lindbergs Academy for hosting us for back-to-back weekends. Their hospitality was top notch. My thanks to Julia Felbar, FRA, Maria Sowmardi Jauker, FRA, Angelo Gorsch, PT, and Dr. Hooman Skaraztavakol for their questions and interest in all things PRI. It was awesome to have Kazu Nishimura, PT, PRC with me and helping with lab during Myokin. Spending time with Kazu was such a blessing, and his contribution was immensely appreciated and valuable to me and the other attendees.

It was an experience I will not forget. Those in attendance were lovely and soaked up the material. PRI is global. And the science does translate to other countries and cultures as we are all humans and we all have patterns. Thank you, Munich!

Posted August 16, 2023 at 3:40PM
Categories: Courses Science

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!

Posted June 19, 2023 at 4:48PM
Categories: Courses Science

Welcome to 2023! It's hard to believe that we have moved into an entire new year. With the turn of the calendar to a new year, we kicked off 2023 with the first PRI course of the year. Impingement and Instability has had a relatively new re-write a few years ago, and it is now a great introduction to other PRI Secondary and Tertiary courses, as well as being a clinician's course. It provides the clinician with integration strategies and lays a neurophysiological framework for why PRI is so effective as a science.  

We were fortunate enough to have 53 people join us for Impingement & Instability, which is an astounding number for the first course of 2023. Our first several hours are spent delving into the neurological aspects of how and why PRI does what it does, and why it works. Since this is no longer a specific orthopedic-driven course, we started making integrated connections between the foot and scapula within the first 30 minutes of the course.  

This course has evolved, not only in the last few years, but in the last several times I've taught this course. We've added more demonstrations and explanations of how to use the reference centers to change the emphasis of a non-manual technique, depending on what the client of patient requires to reduce their functional cortical dominance.  And there are four unique non-manual activities that are discussed in this course and are not found in any other PRI course.

We had a great group of movement specialists from several countries. It was great to have Dana Hirsch, DC, Logan Thomas PT, Minh Nguyen OTD, PRC, Kurt Van Kuiken, ATC, Ryne Gioviano, CSCS, and Nora Harris, yoga instructor in attendance. We had so many great questions and participation from our live stream crowd.  My thanks to Collin Kidwell, CSCS, Nick Rosencutter, CSCS, and Jack Wong, DPT for their attendance in-person and their willingness to help with our demonstrations. And thanks again to RJ Hruska for his exceptional assistance with the production of course. And on his birthday weekend, no less!

Posted January 19, 2023 at 5:01PM
Categories: Courses Science

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.

Posted November 29, 2022 at 4:12PM
Categories: Courses Science

It's been a great pleasure to work with Louise Kelley and Skip George as we endeavored to help the Flagship Course of PRI, Postural Respiration, become a more digestible course. It is really the foundation of the neurology behind PRI concepts as well as the link between the other Primary PRI courses and the Secondary and Tertiary courses. The goal was to help the course attendee leave with a solid understanding of the neurology behind dynamic respiration, and how to test for, and manage, patterned airflow.

It was very rewarding to have such a diverse group of attendees. We had 10 in-person, and 36 on live stream. We had chiropractors, dental hygienists, physical therapists, athletic trainers, yoga instructors, personal trainers, and a physical therapy student. This diversity led to wonderful questions and opportunities to further explain and digest concepts. The in-person group were wonderful to work with in lab, and the live stream group had several excellent questions and comments on the lab as well.

 

Hopefully the nearly two hours of explanation and discussion surrounding the R BC pattern, scapular position, why the tests look the way they do, page 44, and Superior T4 syndrome was helpful for the attendees. We were able to spend a lot of time in lab working on manual and non-manual techniques, as well as working our way through page 50 to help organize our thoughts into an organized treatment algorithm.

My thanks to Jennifer Bell, Sharee Jedlicka, Deanna Stewart, and Ryan Esdohr for your questions and help during lab. My thanks to RJ, which again did a masterful job directing our live-stream event. It was so great to get questions from Juliana Kroese, Dave (Birthday Boy) Shamash, Alan Lee, Kimberly DelVecchio, and Ivonne Gonzales while they were on live stream. Excellent questions all around!

With this course coming right before Halloween, or as my high-school aged children call it, "Free Candy Day," my holiday wish for the course attendees is that they don't find Postural Respiration spooky or haunting, but find it friendly and enchanting!

Posted November 7, 2022 at 5:47PM
Categories: Courses Techniques Science

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.

Posted July 21, 2022 at 3:03PM
Categories: Courses Techniques Science

The pacific northwest has been a PRI hot bed for several years. The enthusiasm for the science and clinical application of PRI is palpable. It was my honor to have the opportunity to teach a fantastic group of movement professionals in Seattle. We had five PRC's in attendance for this newly updated I&I course.  

This course is the perfect gateway to several PRI courses, including Cranial Resolution, Forward Locomotor Movement, and the Primary Non-manual Techniques Workshop. Our conversation starts with introducing the neurological learning process that the body needs in order to inhibit patterned behavior: alternating compression and decompression. This important concept is the foundation we build from as we progressed from the calcaneus to the femur and pelvis and into the scapula.

 

Founded in the concept of alternating compression, we were able to delve into medial and lateral hamstring relationships, as well as when and how to apply the right serratus anterior and subscapularis into a program. Along the way, the necessity of compression of talar bone and calcaneus, and management of pelvic inlets and outlets provide the necessary sense the body needs to allow the body the freedom it desires above T8.

I cannot thank the staff from Alpine Physical Therapy enough. Jeremiah Ferguson, DPT, PRC, Christopher Murphy, DPT, PRC, and Eva Bilo, DPT, were the perfect hosts. A huge shout out to their friend who was kind enough to loan us his projector for the weekend. It would have been a very different course without his generosity. My sincere thanks to the Alpine crew for all of their help.

We were fortunate to have a great mixture of seasoned PRI veterans as well as several who are relatively new to PRI. My thanks to Trevor Corrado, Jeff Fjelstul, David Shamash, and Katie Schaner for their willingness to ask questions.  In addition to the Alpine staff, it was wonderful to have Erin Coomer, Zach Hawthorne, Wren McLaughlin, and Betsy Baker-Bold contribute their experience and perspective to the audience. It was helpful to have others in the audience provide their clinical validation to the topics of I&I.

Many thanks for a wonderful experience in a truly gorgeous region of the country!

Posted April 13, 2022 at 4:09PM
Categories: Courses Clinicians Science

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."

Posted March 28, 2022 at 8:57PM
Categories: Courses Science

The Impingement and Instability course was the kick-off for PRI in 2022, and I was fortunate to be able to have several friends and colleagues in the audience. With this course being updated only two years ago, it has a decided different feel compared to the previous iterations. We were fortunate to have nearly 50 attendees via Zoom from 10 different countries, and 8 movement professionals in-person. With so much PRI experience "in the room", both in-person and virtual, we were afforded the luxury of delving into the neurology of PRI.  

Our ability to make substantial and long-standing change to our posture is dependent upon our ability to change how our brain perceives the environment and gravity.  This course explains how that occurs and why reference centers are a better "road map" for us to be able to modify our patterns and habits.  Starting at the calcaneus and talus, we discussed integration of the femur and why we need it to be unstable, which lead us to the pelvis and why pelvic inlets and outlets are linked to the calcaneus.  We were able to spend nearly 4 hours on linking the scapula and underlying thorax to the pelvis and femur and calcaneus.  Our ability to compress and decompress several different "floors" on each side allows our body to make sense of this Morse Code-like alternation for improved posture, patterns, and respiration.  

My thanks to the entire crew from Edge Physical Therapy: Beth, Mike, Brett, and Eric. Thank you for your questions and dialogue. And thank you to Meg and allowing us to learn from your experience of what it finally means to feel the floor under your feet.  And thanks to Lori Thompson and taking the time to go through the Shoe List.  That was a perfect conversation at the part of the course, and I truly hope those in attendance understand just how unique that experience was for all of us.  Thanks to all of those who attended, and here's to a wonderful 2022!

Posted January 20, 2022 at 11:04PM
Categories: Courses Clinicians Science
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