“This course was mind blowing!”
“This was my third of the basic PRI courses. This really helped to bring all the information together.”
 “Before working on shoulders, I now know I need to retrain the diaphragm and restore rib position.”

Attendees came from far and wide to the most recent Postural Respiration course, held at Body Dynamics in Falls Church, VA.  Nicholas Clark, PhD, PT, hails from London, where he recently stumbled across the science of PRI on YouTube.  “After trying a couple of the PRI exercises, my arm numbness, that I had been dealing with for many months, resolved.” That experience convinced him he needed to learn more.   

Half of the attendees were brand new to PRI, their eyes opened to a new and different perspective on human movement and behavior.  The clinicians at Body Dynamics (Lisa Clarkson, PT; Jennifer Gamboa, PT; Deborah Gilpin, PT, ATC; Gwynn Hegyi, LMT; Kathryn Sparks, LMT; Ashley Templer, PT; and Jorge Villalobos, PT) hosted Myokinematics a year ago, and they were ready to deepen their PRI knowledge.  Many Myokinematics concepts were presented and reviewed, most importantly the left anterior interior chain of muscles’ influence on pelvic-femoral dynamics and a person’s ability to shift their center of mass fully and effectively to the left.  Once the body’s foundation was established, we moved up to the thorax and assessed its ability to function in three dimensions.  

Discussion began with our body’s normal, typical asymmetries which create lateralization to the right.  Countering this lateralized state begins with establishing a zone of apposition of the left hemi-diaphragm, which allows us to deflate a left chest wall, giving us a sense of weight on the left, and inflate a right chest wall to enable rotation of the thorax.  When people engage in occupations and sports that require repetitive movements (think lawyers, dentists, musicians, runners, and baseball players -- the list goes on), the ZOA becomes compromised, leading to the postural maladies that we clinicians witness every day:  hyperinflation, forward head posture, concave chests, scoliosis, winging scapulas, and thoracic flat backs.

Ample time was spent in lab to experience PRI’s non-manual and manual techniques.  Attendees learned concepts such as sensing rib expansion, biasing air flow patterns, sensing reference centers to re-direct the nervous system to new strategies of movement and perception of stability, and guiding a patient through a logical progression, from supine 90-90 positions to upright, rotational performance called gait.

Our labs were enhanced by our attendee-models:  Grace Ball, Pilates trainer; Scott Birch, PT; Nicholas; Bethany Middleton, PTA; and Keith Zrinyi, DC.  Thank you to all of you!

It was awesome to have Sarah Ratti, PT, PRC, in attendance, who brought her colleagues from Bon Secours in Richmond.  Tom Van Ornum, PT, also introduced his colleagues from M.O.S.T. to the science of PRI.  A huge thank you goes out to Karen Soiles, PT, PRC.  Karen is highly experienced and knowledgeable in the science of PRI, and she provided helpful guidance, clarity, and context throughout the weekend.  

The New Year for PRI was kicked off with the first Cervical Revolution course hosted by Advance Physical Therapy January 18-19th. This host site is a Postural Restoration Center with some of the most experienced and professional clinicians I have ever met. Their experience and  knowledge of PRI, Schroth Method for Scoliosis, pediatrics and working with dental professionals for occlusal reference is truly interdisciplinary and artful in approach.

Cervical Revolution has  had a lot of "evolution" this past year with a refined, step-by-step description of atlas on occipital bone position that is clear cut and more easy to understand in the Right vs. Left TMCC. This weekend students learned to appreciate and understand what seems to be at first the challenging subtleties of atlas on occipital function. Visualizing how "A" on "O" drives the sphenoid and how the sphenoid positions temporal bones and ultimately the jaw for a tri-planer picture of how the neck, cranium and TMJ complex affects the entire postural system seems daunting to everyone at first. In this course, autonomics is a prime focus as the neck is the neurologic appendage that drives the rest of the body.

This high level PRI group of practitioners was engaged from the first minute on Saturday to the last minute on Sunday actively asking questions, contributing to the professional dialogue and just working really hard to take in the detailed insights of an advanced PRI course. And then, be enthusiastic about how to apply the basic concepts of this course on Monday morning. This weekend there was a strong emphasis on the basics with a straight forward path to application of course principles.

This was a dream course for any faculty member with this kind of energy and participation from students. What made this course rewarding for me was the staff at Advance Physical Therapy. It was such a comfort to be with physical therapists and PRC's Lisa Mangino, Jean Masse, Joe Belding, Susan Henning, Josh Olinick from STEPS for Recovery, Sangini Rane and of course Jennifer Smart in attendance. Jennifer Smart will be presenting at the next Interdisciplinary Symposium in April and her presentation is not to be missed! In addition, this group of veteran PRC's offered clinical discussion and were all lab assistants in one way or another to lighten the load for the entire class and elevate everyone's experience. Shout out to Angela Ellis, DDS who works with Advance Physical Therapy. She is a dentist and was a first time attendee to a PRI course and she could not have been more delightful and engaged! Thank you again Advance Physical Therapy for hosting Cervical Revolution and supporting PRI.

Advanced Integration and specifically the Integration symbol itself, represent one’s ability to integrate not only the Primary Course concepts, but also one’s ability to recognize the asymmetrical patterns of behavior themselves. In fact your predisposition, perspectives and past experiences will all dictate how you perceive this symbol and consequentially appreciate this 4 day course. Advanced Integration allows us to come together once a year, for a detailed, didactic and sometimes difficult discussion of the most advanced considerations covered in Myokinematic Restoration, Postural Respiration and Pelvis Restoration throughout the year. It allows us to welcome individuals with various degrees of professional practice, differing levels of clinical understanding and multiple locations of living across the globe. This year we were joined by our PRI Family from 26 states, as well as the countries of Malaysia, Australia, Iceland, Germany and Japan. With Valerie Chai (PRC Class of 2019) traveling 35 hours to attend, the dedication of these individuals is something that is continually humbling, and appreciated beyond our measure.

Our Japanese family continues to grow and integrate their own understanding of these concepts as they are now offering all three Primary Courses, and working to present Impingement & Instability in the year ahead. We are also excited to announce the creation of the PRP, (Postural Restoration Provider ™ ) credentialing program that will be offered in Japan in the years ahead. Following these four days we were able to spend an additional two days with the PRC class of 2019, and welcomed 14 new providers from these countries.

The four days of Advanced Integration included some of the best presentations we have seen from Lori Thomsen, Jennifer Poulin and a special appearance by James Anderson representing the concepts they teach throughout the year in the Myokinematic, Pelvis, and Postural course work. If you have not heard these individuals teach this material I highly encourage you to attend one of their courses in 2020, as well as any other Faculty Member that may challenge your current understanding by receiving a different perspective from a different presenter.

The fourth day in particular allows us to reflect solely on Curvatures of the Spine and the effects that Torsion, Torticollis, and too much Torque can have on our already twisted systems. Lisa Mangino, Jean Masse, and Susan Henning have truly spent the better part of their collective careers to understand these concepts and the chance to learn from their intervention strategies was truly a gift to us all.

It is hard to wrap up an entire year of PRI course work through this one four day event. However the opportunity it gives us to come together as a family and challenge each other in a positive manner is one that we never take for granted. As you reach towards the year ahead, may you all appreciate the journey this past year has been for you as we do each December. May you reflect on those that mean the most to you along that journey, and welcome the challenges that will continue in the year ahead.

Our PRI Family starts with our Faculty and Staff and extends from there to all of you. I wish you and your Families a Happy Holiday Season and an Integrative year ahead!   

We had a huge turn-out in Minneapolis for the Postural Restoration Integration for Pilates course this weekend and attendees had fantastic questions!  We spent the morning of Day 1 nailing down breathing mechanics and  obtaining the Zone of Apposition and practicing it in lab even before lunch. We followed up by getting into the nitty gritty of the L AIC and R BC pattern and using the Reformer Supine Gait Integration Test and the Reformer Quadruped Abdominal Lateralization to test to see how well people could properly stand and shift over one leg and counter rotate the upper thorax ("legally"). We finished up day 1 with sagittal plane focused exercises.

On Day 2 we started with a heavy discussion on lateralized gait and understanding early-->mid stance and mid-->late stance in regards to the L AIC/R BC pattern. There may have been some dancing involved....like some sagittal pelvic tilts, frontal plane "hula hips" and transverse plane "salsa twists." Then we went through The Reformer Side lying Stance Test that really looks at the frontal plane followed by a lab of frontal plane exercises on the reformer. We finished up the day with talking about the principle of sensing, including cuing and special reference points for the hands and feet to promote L AF IR and R upper trunk rotation. The final lab added transverse plane integration including a personal favorite exercise of mine, scooter. We wrapped up the day having a frank logistical discussion on how does one start implementing these concepts without getting too overwhelmed, starting with getting a L ZOA and mastering the sagittal plane with a L hamstring. A big thank you to Kristin Procopio and Studio U, for hosting this rendition of our Pilates course at her beautiful new facility, and a shout out to Christine Peh who traveled all the way from Kuala Lumpur to be with us over the weekend!