Posts by Dan Houglum

MSPT, ATC/L, PRC

It was a humbling experience to be on the campus of the Naval Academy teaching Myokinematic Restoration the weekend following Memorial Day. It's a weekend that will resonate with me for a long time for a variety of reasons. I have three relatives who have served in the Navy, so to be on that historical campus was truly a privilege.

It was also a privilege to be able to deliver PRI concepts to a fantastic group of diverse movement professionals. We had ATC's from the Naval Academy as well as from other institutions, LMT, Strength Coaches, PT's, and DC's. Mike Barnard, DC, it was truly an honor to meet you and I thank you for your questions and contributions to the course. With such a diverse crowd, we were permitted to expand our conversation points around many scopes of interest and practice.

Our course was held in Akerson Tower at the football field. During our course, the artificial field turf was being pulled up and removed. It was an apt backdrop for our course because, not unlike the football field, PRI was peeling off layers of preconceived notions in the minds of the course attendees. Once the truth of human asymmetry was revealed and the ramifications of it, we were able to start delivering a new layer of Myokinematic and neuromechanic foundation that they will be able to build on top of moving forward in their PRI journey.

Another unique revelation for me this past weekend occurred when fellow PRI Faculty member, Louise Kelley, and I met for dinner, and she brought her husband, Bruce. I can confirm, Bruce does exist, and we had a wonderful time Saturday night.

My thanks to Nate Nester, Jill Tender, Laurie Johnson, Ryan Carr, Greer Mackie, Vikram Somal, Christine Von Ulrich, and Johnathan Blake for their questions and their willingness to allow us to learn from them. Johnathan is going to be in attendance next weekend when Louise Kelly teaches Postural Respiration in Boston, which is going to be awesome! Cindy Anderson, PT, PRC, was invaluable during the lab portions of the class, as well as providing her valuable insight to delivering PRI concepts.

Progressing through the L AIC pattern, potential pathology that can result, and which muscles can and cannot work because of the position they are in is a lot for anyone new to PRI to digest. But we had many, many attendees who were able to digest the "why", so progressing into the testing and treatment portions of the class were relatively seamless. We were afforded a lot of time for lab, which allowed the attendees to experience getting onto their L side for the first time in a long time. This particular Myokin class will stand out for me because of where we were, the time of year, the symbolism of the football field turf being peeled away, and how stellar the class attendees were. It was a privilege to be among you.

Myokinematic Restoration Postural Restoration Institute at the US Naval Academy Football Stadium

Myokinematic Restoration Postural Restoration Institute at the US Naval Academy Football Stadium

Postural Restoration Institute Dan Houglum Louise Kelley Bruce Kelley

Posted June 4, 2019 at 7:55PM
Categories: Courses

Last weekend was memorable for several reasons. The first one was the new facility we were blessed to be welcomed into for the weekend. The Children's Health Andrews Institute for Orthopedics is a new facility in Plano, TX, and it is gorgeous. It's a relationship between Children's Health and Dr. James Andrews, and the facility has physical therapy, EXOS Sports Performance, and is state of the art. Thank you to Alex Lopez, Brittani Cookinham, and Stephen Laplante for their hospitality and all the set up they did for us.

Myokinematic Restoration - Plano Tx - Postural Restoration Institute

We had a great group of mostly first-timers to the science of PRI. And we had a great diverse crowd of athletic trainers, strength and conditioning specialists, and physical therapist/PTA's. We even had one Physician Assistant.

Myokinematic Restoration Course - Postural Restoration Institute (PRI)

Myokinematic Restoration provides a great foundational platform that allows us to explore the mechanical ramifications surrounding the hip and pelvis as a result of the dominant L AIC pattern. We were able to relate normal positional mechanics and normal compensatory patterns that occur as a result of the right diaphragm's influence on the L AIC pattern. After that foundation, moving into pathology and Myokinematic relationships that exist due to the pattern became an exploration of polyarticular chains of muscles. These concepts allowed us to build our assessment and treatment framework for the rest of the weekend.

Myokinematic Restoration Course - Postural Restoration Institute (PRI)

I greatly appreciate John Key and Katrina Earley for allowing us to learn from them during our demonstrations. There were so many great questions during the weekend, and I appreciate Paul Monje, Rayanne Garcia, Michael Wright, Joni Robertson, Andrew Gallucci, and Meka Venkatanaresh for their enthusiasm and re-states. And a special thank you to Kasey Aikin, PRC for her help assisting throughout the weekend! I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend in The Lone Star state, and the course attendees were a huge reason why. I am looking forward to seeing many of you in future PRI courses!

Posted May 3, 2019 at 5:40PM
Categories: Courses Techniques

One of the more rewarding aspects of teaching PRI to movement professionals who are new to the science is their transition from initial shock, to their minds being blown a little (or a lot), to when it starts to click for them and start to see the PRI picture.

This past weekend was one of those classes where the overwhelming majority of the attendees were new to the science of PRI. But it was also one of those classes where the overwhelming majority of the newcomers left understanding and appreciating how PRI, while challenging them in a good way, is an exceedingly necessary clinical tool for them. I have heard from several individuals in the days following the course as they express their gratitude to PRI for opening their mind and challenging their clinical perspective.

Myokinematic Restoration is a great entry point to start one's PRI journey. We started our weekend by laying out the mechanical ramifications of the L AIC pattern, and how pathology may not be far behind. We then started our deep dive into neuromuscular behavior the Left AIC pattern puts us in, and how to get out of it.

One of the main points of emphasis we have been attempting to drive home in this course is not only how to perform the positional and functional testing, but to understand what the tests mean. And, more importantly, what to do with that information in order to properly decide which PRI non-manual activities to choose. As a result, we constructed our lab time to reflect that concept. We were very fortunate to be able to spend at least half of Sunday in lab. The feedback we were getting was that participants could still feel their L IC Adductor and R Gluteus Max on Monday! That sensation is very helpful for them as movement specialists in order to feel those muscles and how that made them feel as a result.

My thanks to Holli O'Kelley for her willingness to be our host. Her questions during the course were very helpful as well. My thanks to Barak Pearson, Kyle Sammons, and Young Filer for their interest and questions. My special thanks to Mary Faulk and Loren Johnson. Thank you for your openness and willingness to explore different treatment options. Thank you to Betsy Baker-Bold, PRC, for her assistance with our labs. The Seattle area has been growing rapidly in PRI interest over the last several years, and Betsy is one of the main reasons for that growth. This weekend reminded me how grateful I am to PRI, and how humbling it is, as an instructor, to help fellow clinicians explore this new science.

Myokinematic Restoration Course Lab in Seattle

Myokinematic Restoration course lab session in Seattle

Myokinematic Restoration course lab session in Seattle

Posted March 8, 2019 at 3:27PM
Categories: Courses

Coming from the Polar Vortex, it was a refreshing respite to be in sunny Arizona for the first Myokinematic Restoration course of 2019. We were fortunate enough to have a very diverse class of attendees ranging from chiropractors, to strength coaches, to physical therapists working in various settings, to certified athletic trainers working with professional athletes.

Myokinematic Restoration is a fantastic course to kick-start one's PRI journey. This was the rare introductory course where over half of the attendees had been to previous PRI courses. This provided us a unique opportunity to delve into other material that we wouldn't otherwise be able to cover. We had excellent questions and excellent lab time as a result.

Lab Demonstration of PRI Testing, Myokinematic Restoration, Chandler, AZ

One of the topics that we were able to cover in this course that previous attendees appreciated was the Hruska Abduction Lift Test. This test is taught in depth in Pelvis Restoration as well, but for those who had attended Myokin previously, this was a new topic for them. Additionally, it provided the newcomers a chance to be able to appreciate how PRI integrates the gait cycle and breathing into treatment from beginning to end. We were also able to briefly touch on other topics, such as PEC management and rib cage IR, because of the previous experience of many of the attendees. However, we were also able to stay very on point and keep the course on track for those who were attending for the first time.

Dan Houglum demonstrating the Hruska Abduction Lift Test, Myokinematic Restoration Course

My thanks to Jim Wittekind, PT, PRC, for his help during lab and insightful discussion. The staff from 360 Physical Therapy, Becky Fox, Jennifer Peters, Krystina Leal, Caleb Walls, and Jason Roe, were perfect hosts. My thanks to Nathan Whitney, Ginsie Huntley, Liz Cash, Chris Burke, and Garrett Chin for their questions and discussion.

Lab Demonstration, Myokinematic Restoration course, Chandler, AZ

At the end of the day, we all need to be a little more like Bruce Wayne, and less like Batman. And we need to use our "good boy band" of muscles, instead of the "bad boy band" that the L AIC often puts us into. As a result of our conversation around normal mechanics vs. compensatory mechanics relative to the L AIC pattern, we were able to delve into how these analogies applied to our assessments and treatment approach. We were able to spend a lot of time on muscle activity as well as how to apply the Hruska Abduction and Adduction Lift tests into assessment and PRI non-manual activity selection.

Hruska Abduction Lift Test, Myokinematic Restoration Tweet

We were blessed with a great group of movement professionals, and I was fortunate to be able to help them either continue or start their PRI journey. Thanks for a great weekend!

Posted February 14, 2019 at 5:29PM
Categories: Courses Techniques Science

It was an honor to spend Veteran's Day Weekend with a fantastic group of movement professionals. On Sunday November 11, the 100 year anniversary of the end of WW I, we took a moment to honor those who have served our country.

With the sounds of the Veteran's Day Parade outside, we spent most of our Sunday in lab. We were fortunate to have a large group of attendees, roughly half of whom had not been a PRI class before. We had the time to do a repositioning lab, spend over two hours on the Hruska Adduction and Abduction Lift tests in detail, and then follow that up with another lengthy lab of progressing through PRI non-manual activities. Not often do we have the opportunity to have so much lab time, and then carve out some time to discuss and demonstrate how to get an individual from a PEC pattern into a L AIC pattern, for those who were new to PRI.

My great thanks to my lab assistants, Neal Hallinan, PRT, and Sean Light, PRT, who were invaluable with such a large group. I would also like to thank Damian Estrada, Yelena Gremban, Matthew Zimmerman, Tara Lewis, and Beth Lewis for their questions, re-states, and volunteering during our lab demonstrations.

We were able to navigate our way through normal and pathological mechanics, the myokinematic ramifications of being stuck in a L AIC pattern, and we were able to progress into assessment of patterns and pathology of patterning. Which allowed us to spend as much time as we did to the Hruska Abduction and Adduction Lift tests and non-manual activities.

Yes, neurology is a complicated topic. And understanding the link between the hamstring and the parasympathetic nervous system is an enormous paradigm shift. I appreciate and empathize with the difficulty that concept presents, particularly to those who have been trained in this wonderful country of ours. However, I would encourage those who are new to PRI to not completely dismiss this concept because it challenged your preconceived notion of neurology and muscular behavior. Thank you for such a memorable conclusion of my 2018 teaching calendar.

I am already looking forward to 2019!

Posted November 14, 2018 at 5:56PM
Categories: Courses

It is always comforting to be teaching PRI regardless of location, but last weekend I was in Detroit, MI. My wife's family are all from just west and south of the Detroit area, so I was in very familiar surroundings. And the host group of Team Rehabilitation was an excellent bunch to host Myokinematic Restoration.

With a full room of nearly 40 health care professionals and movement specialists, and nearly all in attendance having never heard PRI previously, it was an awesome learning environment for everyone. This group was very dynamic and asked great questions. As this course evolves, we end up adding more and more lab time. This past weekend, 1/3 of the course was lab based, so we had ample opportunity to learn from each other.

We started our dive into the difference between normal pelvifemoral mechanics around the normal neuromechanical presentation that is the L AIC pattern. Then we went deeper into normal compensation vs. pathological compensation patterns. We transitioned into muscular ramifications of the inability to get out of the L AIC pattern, which highlighted the importance of having a "good boy band" rather than a "bad boy band."

We had ample time to practice the positional testing as we were able to determine what patterns we all had inside of us. Low and behold, every single one of the attendees proved to be in a PEC pattern. Based on this group of attendees all having the same extended pattern, we had to have the "Batman vs. Bruce Wayne" conversation. I was in a room of "Batmans”, and we all needed to be more like "Bruce Wayne." This necessitated a demonstration of how to get someone out of a PEC pattern and into a L AIC pattern, so the rest of the weekend had an opportunity to resonate with the attendees. With two activities, we were able to take a very strong PEC individual, and turn them into a L AIC pattern. Because underneath the bilateral extended patterns of the PEC lies a L AIC pattern.

The "PEC busting" demonstration helped us proceed into the management of a L AIC pattern. Nearly the entire afternoon on Sunday was lab time, where everyone had the opportunity to find and feel hamstring, IC Adductor, gluteus medius, internal obliques, and gluteus maximus activity. Reports of "feeling different" and "feeling my hips" were common comments after our lab.

My thanks to Team Rehabilitation for their hospitality. They know how to host a course! My thanks to Shelly DeRuiter and Craig Stasio, who were awesome lab assistants. Thank you to Cyril Shuster, Alexandre Vieria, Todd Cummings, and Michele Weis for your excellent questions and re-states. Thank you to Michelle Shrader and David Selak for allowing us to learn from you in our demonstration portions of the class. My hat is off to Alexandre Vieria, as he traveled from Brazil to hear PRI! I greatly appreciate our conversation around tennis players and the necessity to have excellent frontal plane integration. Thanks to everyone for great weekend!

Posted October 2, 2018 at 7:38PM
Categories: Courses

Diversity is a wonderful thing. So is variability. And we were blessed to have both in abundance last weekend in Norman, OK. We had a very diverse group of movement and rehab specialists, with expertise ranging from working with professional athletes to dancers to pelvic floor specialists.

Variability was in abundance as we discussed getting out of patterned neuromechanical behavior. In order to get out of the performance rut that the L AIC pattern puts some of us in, we need to have variability. As we delved into how to recognize normal mechanics, normal compensatory mechanics, and pathological compensatory mechanics as a result of the L AIC pattern, the need for variability started to become clear. Then we progressed into our muscular patterned behavior conversation as a result of the dominant L AIC pattern. Additionally, we discussed the muscular performance consequence of the L AIC pattern.

As we further discussed testing and repositioning, it became more and more clear that variability in position is the key. We were very fortunate to have a lot of lab time; as much or more lab time as any other course I've taught. It afforded us the opportunity to feel the effect our human asymmetry has on our position, as well as our muscular performance. As a result, our ability to be variable in our movement patterns became our clear goal.

Many thanks to Alicia Oberholzer and Dustin Rhoades for allowing us to use them as our models for demonstration purposes. It was a great pleasure to have everyone ask so many great questions. Stuart Nichols, Kim Callahan, Deb Clark, and Kathy Bonar were particularly helpful in keeping us on track, re-stating, and offering their insight into our deep dive into the necessity of movement variability and how to achieve it. As always, we need more "Bruce Wayne" and less "Batman" in our lives, and make sure you have the "Good Boy Band" working for you!

Posted August 15, 2018 at 3:05PM

Being my first trip to Virginia, I was excited to be able to share the science of PRI to many first-timers. We had a very good mix of strength and conditioning, rehab, and sports medicine professionals in the audience. Virginia Commonwealth University were great hosts for our weekend of exploring how the polyarticular chains influence our every day lives, as well as our sports performance. Many thanks to Eddie Benion and his crew, James, Jason, Ray, Christopher, and John.

We spent our first day going through the patterns of the L AIC and R AIC. We discussed how the patterned behavior facilitates some muscles, while inhibits others, on each side of the body. And we had a great discussion about while is it awesome to be Batman, being Bruce Wayne is much more valuable. We talked about "good" Boy Bands, and "bad" Boy Bands.

The best part of the weekend, in my opinion was the amount of time we had for lab. We spent nearly half of the day on Sunday in lab, where everyone got a chance to find and feel the muscles that we need to facilitate, and inhibit, if we are to get into L stance and off the R leg properly. My thanks to my lab assistant, Eileen Kokosinski, PT. You were a great help! We were able to go through an inhibition lab as well. And we were able to link the activities back to the Hruska ABDuction and ADDuction Lift tests.

My thanks to Sara Creger, DPT, for letting us use her as our lab demonstration model. As well as Drew Coulter, DPT, and James Benzel, ATC, and Jason Castleman, ATC, for allowing us to learn from them as well. As always, we had a great room of learners, and we had a ton of great questions. My thanks to Joshua Jordan, Leanne Dunaway, Scott Burch, Tom Loyd, Ethan Saliba, Edwin Santiago, and Jason Turner. It was so great to hear this mix of health care professionals ask questions, and learn from each other about how human asymmetrical patterns affect our daily lives and sports performance.

Posted June 11, 2018 at 9:15PM
Categories: Courses

Saranac Lake, NY, was the site of the most recent Myokinematic Restoration class, and it was a very eventful class for a variety of reasons. One of them was the 4-6 inches that fell Sunday during the course. It was a very beautiful scene, until you realized it was April 29th.

More importantly, it was a course where we had the opportunity for as much, if not more, lab time compared to any course I have taught previously. We were fortunate to have two experienced and great lab assistants, Michelin Carroll, PT, ATC, and Sean Fitzgerald, PT, PRC. They have been in and around PRI for a long time, and having them help in lab was invaluable. My thanks to them!

We were able to delve into the differences between normal mechanics the L AIC pattern presents, as well as normal and pathological compensations that will arise. This led us into the polyarticular behavior the muscles of the pelvis and femur have on each leg as a result of the L AIC pattern. We were fortunate to have a lot of time to practice the positional assessments, as well as discuss what the positional tests indicate.

The value of the Hruska Abduction and Adduction Lift tests relative to the gait cycle and respiratory cycle was a significant topic of conversation and lab. We were fortunate to have two very good demonstrations with Matt Powers and Brendon Olsen. Matt gave us a good example of how to reposition someone who is in a L AIC pattern. And Brendon gave us a great example of how to get someone who is in a PEC pattern, and help them become inhibited enough to turn into a L AIC pattern.

My thanks to Shauna Thomas for helping us link the L AIC pattern to what she is seeing in her womens' health population; Megan Haught for her great questions and re-states; co-workers Bill Doherty and Linda Horizny for their enthusiasm in learning this new material; and Hilary O'Connor, who is a student physical therapist attending this course.

We all need a little more "Bruce Wayne" and a little less "Batman," and we need to make sure we have the proper "boy band" in our lives!

Posted May 2, 2018 at 7:49PM
Categories: Courses

As an instructor, it so fun to be able to teach close to home and have a "home game." I had the pleasure to work with a great group of movement professionals from a variety of backgrounds. It was great to have Mark Cibrario host us for the weekend at his gym, The Trainers Club. It was also so fun to have Ieve Deleon, PT, in attendance. Ieve and I worked together for 5 years, and having her in the audience was very special.

Every course has an opportunity to be lead by the attendees based on their questions. And the questions we had this weekend were on point, while giving us the opportunity to expand our concepts, and still stay on task to achieve our educational goals. My thanks to Michael DuBois, Gena Vernon-Davis, Ninna Wang, Andrew Eliszewski, Ryan Levonyak, and Brad Thurman, among others. We had so many contributors to our successful weekend. Kathryn Lehner and Kyle Tynan were very kind to let us learn from them and be our models for the weekend.

The fun part of the weekend was our lab time. We were able to spend a lot of time in lab working on positional tests, and the Hruska Abduction and Adduction Lift tests, We also were able to work our way through activities related the management of an individual with a pathological L AIC presentation, from activation to inhibition.

"Home games" are infrequent, and to have the opportunity to have had such a great group to work with, learn from, and interact with was truly the best part of the weekend!

Posted March 29, 2018 at 5:00PM
Categories: Courses
First 1 2 3 4 Last

Products

CD Bundles
Non-manual Techniques
Manual Techniques DVD
Manual Techniques
Illustrations
PRIVY
PRI Video for You