A serendipitous encounter…

This past March, we had the honor of teaching an Occlusal Cervical Restoration live stream course to over 70 interdisciplinary professionals including several dentists. It was during that live stream course that we unexpectedly discovered that Dr. James Carlson, DDS, a giant in his profession and someone we have referenced in course material for years, was still alive! One of his good friends and colleagues put us in touch with him the following week, and this serendipitous discovery has led not only to a new friendship, but also an expanded collaborative effort on the importance of interdisciplinary team management between dentists and movement professionals. Dr. Carlson has since graced us with his presence on a Cervical Revolution and Occlusal Cervical Restoration live stream, leaving course participants with interactions and discussions that won’t soon be forgotten. In our first meeting with Dr. Carlson back in April, we knew that we had an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up. And so, despite thinking we had just finished our last Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium of its kind a few days earlier, Ron’s heart was tugged to do yet another. And it was during that first meeting, that we invited Dr. James Carlson to present as our featured speaker for our 13th Annual Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium, which is titled “The Stomatognathic System – An Interdisciplinary Approach in the Management of Spatial Navigation and Structural Strength”. The stomatognathic system is sometimes referred to as the masticatory system, however Dr. Carlson as he wrote in his book, Analyzing the Stomatognathic System, sometimes refers to it as the “cranio-maxillomandibular-cervical-dental complex”. As
a dentist, Dr. Carlson recognized early on in his career that there is a “bigger picture”, which includes caring for the components of the stomatognathic system. Collectively, we feel that it’s important that all healthcare and fitness professionals recognize this as well. And so, we invite you to join us in April, for an Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium that you won’t want to miss!

Our 2022 course brochure should be arriving to your mailboxes, doorsteps, offices and mailrooms soon, if it hasn't already!

We are so excited for the opportunities this year will bring and continuing our mission to explore and explain the science of postural adaptations, asymmetrical patterns and the influence of polyarticular chains of muscles.

An Introspective Approach to the Treatment of Functional Cortical Predominance associated with forward movement of one’s body requires reliance on the observation of one’s mental state, as well as examination of one’s own conscious thoughts and feelings about physical mechanics. This course offers the PRI minded clinician an opportunity to explore the components of human cortical processing required for normal or natural, unilateral biomimicry of contralateral processes that are dominant in advancing oneself forward, into and though hemi-lateral and hemispheric forces, that may or may not be perceived or recognized.

Most individuals that do not have natural use, or flow of the four hemispheric components outlined in the Forward Locomotor Movement course, will express forward movement with suppression of one or more of the four components, for unilateral functional dominance, associated with ‘unnatural’ forward advancement of their body, and non-biomimetic formation and function.

Biomimetics is the study and development of synthetic or artificial systems that mimic the formation, function or structure of biologically produced substances and materials, or biological mechanisms and processes that are reproduced from unnatural behaviors. In the case of forward locomotor function, humans often ‘synthesize’ artificial mechanisms of movement by mimicking unnatural homolateral movement, which often results in similar bilateral patterns, that were established through biomimetic cortical processing.

When the contralateral function of the human body, produced by unnatural or compensatory function, that may or may not mimic the ipsilateral function, occurs, the human will rely on biomimetics to synthesize, fabricate or re-produce an acceptable ‘unnatural’ function, for the compensatory form required for safe, effortless, forward advancement of itself.   

 
This unnatural biomimetic behavior often becomes cortically represented and patterned with “natural” contralateral or unilateral function that is recognized, strengthened and patterned by existing functional cortical sites of respective human cortical dominance. This novel integrated patterned functional cortical dominance, along with the associated replacement of biomimetic components of novel, unnatural function, become embedded and accepted as natural neurologic function and flow, for future forward kinetic movement challenge and recognition.

By breaking down the four hemispheric biomimetic components humans use to move themselves forward, the attendee can gain a deep appreciation for the need to consider the influences the hemi-chests, arms, and the eyes can have on flow, effort and trajectory, when designing or outlining a program for the challenged forward mover of his or her body and legs.

Conversation like this, in a tertiary PRI course, is so easy for me to engage into with people who are willing to interact, acknowledge their confusion, share their opinions and provide clinical insight. I greatly appreciated the open dialogue with the live stream individuals who did just that. Laura Kompkoff OD, Ginger Mandy PT, Stephanie Ritter PT, and Kris Zeller-Hack MD, thank you so much for the interaction.

 I also want to thank Masa Abe, ATC, CSCS, Chad Beckman SCCC, PRT, CSCS, Heather Jenny PT, PRC, WCS, Yoshi Mitsuyama MS, ATC/L, PES, PRT, and Stuart Nichols, ATC who helped so much in demonstration, discussion and dialogue on topics that were made easier to discuss because of their actual presence. Actually, I appreciate all those who are here, in-person. Your travel, lodging and overall expense to be here is not overlooked, and I appreciate all of you who come to Lincoln, for any of our PRI courses. It is such an invaluable opportunity for any speaker. Thank you.

Timing is a tricky thing, isn't it? Difficult to measure. Tough to describe. Hard to master. But once you find timing, or timing finds you, it can dramatically change any outcome. Aren't we all searching for that nebulous and elusive thing called "timing"? One of the main overall goals of PRI is to improve neuromuscular timing to reduce patterned behavior. Timing is kind of like a unicorn with a majestic, golden mane; you know it when you see it.   

Last weekend it was my distinct pleasure to teach Myokinematic Restoration to 68 movement specialists, 45 of which were new to the science of PRI. We had 10 individuals in person, and two of them were my good friends Craig Depperschmidt, DPT, PRC and Jason Miller, PT, PRC, both of whom are new additions to our PRI faculty. We are lucky to have them. We had a group of 18 co-workers attending the live-stream together. It was daylight savings, which means we got an extra hour of sleep Saturday night. And we had a unicorn in our midst. We were fortunate to have had several unique events occur this weekend that I feel blessed to have all been able to share the experience with 68 friends, old and new.

One of our objectives in this course is to learn how to correctly interpret the tests and let them lead us into our treatment approach. Another objective is to understand how and when to use ligamentous muscle to stabilize an unstable hip capsule. For those of you who have taken this course before, you've experienced the lab portion on the second day, and we usually are able to get to around 7 or so PRI non-manual techniques. On this unique weekend, we were able to get to 15 techniques in lab. Part of it was the small class size during lab, but Craig and Jason were an enormous reason we were able to get to so many activities. It was just a unique experience afforded to those in attendance in-person and on the live stream. This extensive lab time allowed us to dive into the algorithms on pages 49 and 52, as well as the inhibition section of the appendix.  We used page 48 as a treatment flow chart, and proceeded through that page as a decision-making tree to help the attendees solidify examples of how to apply the science of PRI upon returning to their clients and patients. Do what the tests tell you to do. Reposition. Do page 39. Retest. Do what the tests tell you to do.

One of the best teaching examples for this course is an example of someone who fits the description of the algorithm on page 49, and the algorithm on page 52. Ron did this for me in my very first Myokin class in 2004, and it helped me remember how different these patients can present. It is pretty easy to find someone in the course during lab who presents with testing representative of page 52; however, finding someone who fits the description on page 49 is kind of like finding a majestic unicorn with a flowing golden mane. In 6 years of teaching this course I had only met one unicorn, until this weekend. Our unicorn's name was Brett, and he provided us with an exceptional example of how and why testing matters, and how testing helps drive the treatment decision-making tree on page 48.  

My thanks to all of those who attended on live-stream. Your questions clearly indicate you were engaged and were thinking ahead to future courses. Your questions were spot-on and I am looking forward to seeing many, many of you in future PRI courses.
 
My sincere thanks to Brett Shulte, Alison Janky, Savannah DeVault, and Angie Nixon. Your willingness to be our models for demonstration provided all of us with an exceptional learning experience. My thanks to RJ for his excellent production of our live stream, and to Jason and Craig for keeping me honest and helping us get through as much lab as we did.  

So, to recap......
Fantastic in-person and live stream audience. Excellent questions all around. Unbelievable lab. A splendid unicorn. An extra hour of sleep.
Timing is everything.  

Essex Physical Therapy near Burlington provided a warm welcome to students and PRI faculty that matched the fall colors of a Vermont fall season. This facility is a dream location for learning PRI principles and provided a perfect learning environment for all of the students in attendance.

Cervical Revolution is the secondary course that introduces "top-down" and autonomic function guiding movement that is reciprocal and alternating. The heart and soul of this course is the atlas and occipital articulation which is autonomic in nature given the location to the brainstem anatomically. From that articulation the course builds into normal cervical spine coupling, compensatory coupling, occipital influences on a sphenoid, sphenoid to temporal bone, temporal bone influences on the entire system including mandibular/occlusal position and finally to right torsion as a pathologic compensation of the cranium that originates at the O/A joint.  This course integrates sense from top down and ground up including pressure sense generated by respiration, autonomic nervous system regulation of balance, sight, occlusion and especially alignment, position and dynamic tone and tension of the cervical spine.

In addition to PT's in attendance, there were athletic trainers, strength professionals, massage therapists and two doctors of chiropractic in attendance with one of them also being a PT. Our discussion on Saturday morning included speaking of the atlas and that chiropractors have always held this articulation with high reverence observing it's role in overall wellbeing and neurologic function. Ron Hruska also has seen this relationship for years, and as a chiropractic physician, I appreciate Cervical Revolution so much as it brings our knowledge of the cervical spine, and how it specifically relates to overall function of every system in the human body, to a practical clinical application combining objective testing with powerful and effective treatment.

Fellow PRI faculty member Louise Kelly, DPT, who is training to teach this course, was our lab assistant and my sidekick during the weekend and courses always are easier to teach with her energetic input, insights as a masterful clinician and ability to break down PRI Non-manual techniques. Many thanks to her and many, many thanks to Estelle La Clair and the entire Essex Physical Therapy staff for their support, organization, food, set-up, clean-up and overall spirit of learning this past weekend!