This was the last offering of Myokinematic Restoration for 2019. And what a way to end the year! We had a great group of chiropractors, athletic trainers, physical therapists and PT assistants,  strength coaches, personal trainers, and cranial therapists.  I was very excited to get to sunny northern California, as the we got 4-6 inches of snow the day before I left. Which made for a miserable Halloween.  

Fortunately, only treats and no tricks with PRI! This course affords us the luxury of spending a lot of time in lab.  Nearly 40% of the class is spent in lab, which provides the attendee ample opportunity to find, feel, and experience the science of PRI. This course also provides ample time for us to discuss, explain, and digest the Hruska Adduction and Abduction Lift Tests as a means of determining one's ability to walk and breathe. If walking and breathing require compensation, everything will require compensation.  

We had a great discussion about sympathetic vs. parasympathetic nervous system activity related to pelvic positioning, foot and ankle performance, and how the acetabulum position dictates femoral activity.  

My thanks to Shaun Buchanan and Joan Shepherd Mellows for hosting us and all the logistical work that goes into a successful weekend.  My thanks to Jenn Gaskin, Brian Schulman, John Garland, Cody Gilliss, Michael Serrano, and Tracy Henry for all of their great questions and help during demonstrations.  

But this weekend wouldn't have worked nearly as well if it weren't for Will Waterman, PRC, and Tim Dempsey, PRT. They were fantastic lab assistants and were a great help during the entire course. Without a doubt, they were instrumental to helping this diverse group digest this information. Looking forward to 2020!

Robert Newhelfen, DC, founder of Motus Integrative Health, describes his clinic as “a full integrative health clinic bringing new and unique treatment options to the people of Northwest Indiana.” In keeping with this vision, his clinic hosted Postural Respiration, a unique and integrative approach to addressing postural influences of rib torsion, inconsistent breathing patterns, habitual use of accessory respiratory musculature, and a positionally-restricted diaphragm. As in most PRI courses, we had an interdisciplinary group of course attendees, comprised of PTs, chiropractors, ATCs, and strength and conditioning experts in professional baseball and soccer. Also in attendance was Ruth Hennessey, MM, a vocal specialist well-known in the world of singing. Thank you, Ruth, for your insights into how singers develop faulty breathing strategies and retain undesirable tension that can affect their voice.

From the get-go, we discussed human asymmetry, most notably of the right and left hemi-diaphragms, leading to predictable patterns of muscle activity and movement. Our inherent asymmetry gives us a starting point from which we  shift our bodies and rotate. It is what an infant relies on to make its way from the womb to the external world. This applies to every developmental milestone, from crawling to running. However, when patterned muscle activity "goes rogue", from too much sitting or engaging in the same, repetitive activities, day in and day out, the results are patterned restrictions, injury, and fatigue.  

Course attendees served as one another’s case studies as they compiled PRI objective data to assess for both lower and upper body neuromuscular dys-synchrony and to guide treatment. Thank you to Rebecca Custer, DPT, and Wynne Conklin, CPT, our templates for the entire class for right BC over-activity and its pathological sibling, superior T4 syndrome. We discussed how this syndrome limits first rib mobility. The first rib is the driver behind the mechanics of the entire thorax and, therefore, must remain mobile! This course was updated a year ago. It includes a new test for the brachial chain as well as where, when, and what inhibition techniques fit into the treatment scheme. If you haven’t taken Postural Respiration in a while, it’s time for a refresher!

 
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful questions. Nate Kloosterman, DPT, OCS, gets the prize for most questions asked, keeping this instructor on her toes. A special thank you goes to Adrian Gutierrez, DC, for handling the set-up, food, sign-in, etc.   You were a gracious host and helped make this weekend an enjoyable experience.

Alpine Physical Therapy has been the center of advanced PRI courses for over two years. The three amigos, Chris "Murph" Murphy, DPT, PRC, Jeremiah Ferguson, DPT, PRC and Eli Zygmuntowicz, DPT, PRC hosted Cervical Revolution at their facility this past weekend and it was a pleasure seeing the guys again and having their support hosting this course. Cervical Revolution has been evolving for the past two years with course manual changes, thanks in a large part to Jason Masek, MSPT, PRC, and his diagram of the atlas and occipital bone in the left and right TMCC pattern. One of the biggest learning challenges in any PRI course is to connect a pattern to position and have a tri-planer picture in mind from a two dimension drawing from a book. Jason's description is a vital learning tool to understand position of atlas relative to occiput before the discussion of occiput on atlas in a patho-mechanical compensation called right torsion occurs.  

In addition, several revisions to the course manual have been made with the help of Ron Hruska and Mike Cantrell to make this course flow even better.   The emphasis has become even greater on the O/A junction being the driving factor for autonomics, cranial position and especially oscillatory lateralized function. The connection with the L AIC, R BC, R TMCC and LSB cranial position, and the need to alternate and reciprocate, was integrated deeply this past weekend with ample lab time and insightful clinical discussion.

Attendees in the course included six PRC's as well as practitioners on the verge of becoming PRC's with much PRI exposure and practice.  Along with the "veterans" there were practitioners with just a few PRI courses under their belts including PT's, myofunctional speech therapists, and strength and conditioning personal with a strong emphasis on working with baseball players from little league to the pro's.  Joseph Yousefian, DDS, an orthodontist, was in attendance for his first PRI course.  He was thrown right in the middle of PRI nation and was such a valuable voice when it came to occlusion and a dentist's perspective.  In this course the discussion on occlusion is one that is interdisciplinary, and that more often than not, we need to work with a specific dentist to help with occlusion to "free up" a neck and let it revolve!

Thank you to all attendees and especially Murph, Jeremiah and Eli. I also want to thank Ron and Mike for their mentorship over the past two years. They have been so generous in their time and energy helping me understand the content and learn how to teach Cervical Revolution. This was my first solo Cervical Revolution as a faculty member and it was such a rewarding experience to be so well prepared with the help of Ron and Mike. Also, thank you to Jennifer Platt, MPT, PRC for all of your mentorship, emails and phone calls in this learning process!

As one attends conferences organized by various boards and professional groups of education, it becomes apparent that many of them, no matter which organization is of the primary focus, are alike. This is now our second time attending the AAPMD Airway Summit, and it again was distinguishable from any other conference in the past. I believe it is important to understand the truly collaborative effort of all the organizations involved as the level of discussion was already set high because of the many disciplines present during these four days.

We were proud to join a long list of sponsors which included; The American College for Advancement in Medicine, The American Academy of Physiological Medicine & Dentistry, The Academy of Applied Myofunctional Sciences, The American Academy for Oral Systemic Health, The Institute of Physical Art, The Foundation for Airway Health, The North American Association of Facial Orthotropics, The International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology and the American Academy of Craniofacial Pain.If you made it through the list above, it may be easier to understand the vastness of conversations had, professions in attendance, speaker topics presented and overall interest in integration. As I spent four days discussing and fielding various questions related to the relevance and strong presence of our Institute at this event, we immediately became aware of the potential and power that this science of Postural Restoration can have on a collaborative group of minds which we were surrounded by. After having these conversations between various Dentists, Oral Facial Myologists, Hygienists, Speech & Language Pathologists, Craniofacial Pain Physicians, and many other systemic health and physiology professionals, their desire for integrative and collaborative care was at an all-time high.

Many of them however were curious and sometimes cautious about where to begin, who to reach out to, and how those other professionals may benefit their patients overall plan of care and most importantly their treatment outcomes. Then comes “The Important Collaborative Role of PT and Airway Health” which was presented by Ron Hruska, Gregg Johnson and Brad Gilden. Which in and of itself was a milestone in the collaborative effort to introduce the important role PT’s have in viewing and treating airway and all other forms of dysfunction. Not only is the role of the physical therapist becoming more apparent but the roles of ALL individual professionals involved are becoming more appreciated. We were fortunate to have the presence of PRC, Steve Cuddy who has been practicing PRI and integrating with other disciplines in the Austin area for many years. Steve, it was truly an absolute gift to have you there as a representative of our credentialed providers across the country and abroad as these other professions look to you and others like you, who have become a PRI provider. The professionals mentioned above will be reaching out to all of you in the days, months and years to come, as a resource for integration of the science of PRI within their approaches of treating Airway Dysfunction and overall health!

“Attending the Collaboration Cures Airway Conference was an eye-opening, yet reassuring experience.  Eye-opening in the sense that the collection of airway-related issues is more complex and prevalent than, I believe, anyone truly understands.  Reassuring because I’m more confident than ever that we as PRI practitioners are uniquely positioned to play an integral role in the detection and treatment of obstructive airway conditions. Returning back to our homes, I’m sure that all attendees are more hopeful after listening to and meeting a wide range of passionate practitioners. This would include Ron who gave a few very insightful presentations.  I’m here to tell everyone in PRI Land that airway obstruction and the anterior neck are areas that we understand, thanks in very large part to the information that Ron has put together for us. My hope is that we make that clear to all allied airway health professions in our communities as we continue our own Postural Restoration journeys.”
– Steve Cuddy

A huge thank you to Dr. Howard Hindin, and the AAPMD Organization for once again including us in this effort. Dr. Hindin was awarded the “Howard G. Hindin, Breath of Life Award” for his dedication and role in this collaborative movement and because of his efforts Airway Health has been brought to the forefront of Healthcare. Thank you again and we look forward to continuing our involvement with and alongside you all. Next year’s Collaboration Cures conference will be held in Seattle, on November 12-14th! See you there.