"A PRI Approach to Chiropractic Alignment of The Spine", was presented by Ron Hruska on March 10^th at the ACA Rehab Council! The two days prior to this presentation were as significant as the topics being discussed. What culminated as a room full of Chiropractic Doctors Blowing up a Balloon, started with collaborative discussions revolving around concepts such as rotation, orientation, respiration and, perhaps most prevalent, alignment of the spine. Coincidentally these concepts aligned themselves well with what was already being discussed by other vendors, presenters and most importantly Students.

After recently attending the APTA Combined Sections and then two months later this conference, it is apparent that the desire to collaborate and integrate among professions is at an all-time high! The students of these organizations are approaching their careers with an Integrative mindset and an overall interest in collaboration. Ron enjoyed discussing the future of this integrative approach with each of the student chiropractors in attendance and was able to show the powerful potential that PRI has within their profession. The group from Keiser University had a strong student presence and a few poster presentations even discussed topics such as the “Zone of Apposition” and Respiration as primary concepts! It was so awesome to see this PRI activity occurring without previous knowledge or awareness of its incurrence!

On the second day we were met by PRI Faculty member Dr. Robert “Skip” George, which allowed us to strengthen the Link between the Director of our Institute, a Physical Therapist, and the Chiropractors in attendance. Skip is a walking Reference Center of clinical knowledge and experience, and his input within our discussions was unprecedented. PRI truly is a common language that can be used and utilized by us all, not just one group or another. This particular group of Rehab professionals understood that long before our arrival.

They were not only excited and welcoming of our Institute but embraced the collaboration and encouraged it within their own organization. It was quite frankly refreshing to be a part of. With Ron’s presentation falling on the last day of this conference we were excited to see how many attendees stayed around to hear the culmination of Ron’s career. Skip gave a wonderful introduction about his relationship with Ron and this Institute to over 60 filled seats! PRI objective testing and core concepts were strengthened and the use of a few Non-Manual techniques allowed the group to appreciate the ability to integrate it into their daily practice.

Thank you to President Dr. Jeff Tucker, and everyone at the American Chiropractic Association Rehab Council for inviting us to this symposium. I would encourage anyone that appreciates this Science to strongly consider reaching out to an integrative minded Chiropractor in their area to collaborate with, converse with and possibly be challenged by, in order to strengthen the relationship between us all! We are excited for the future growth and collaboration between our organizations, and are hopeful that your patients and clients will see a direct increase in their results!

I had a great time this weekend teaching Myokinematics of the Hip and Pelvis at Body Dynamics in Falls Church, VA. I grew up not far from Falls Church and my college roommate lives in Rockville MD. I got to spend some time with an old friend and teach a course that I consider an old friend. Myokin is a great course to start a PRI journey and that is exactly what 90% of my course attendees were experiencing. We took an OBER and Thomas Test and turned them from orthopedic soft tissue tests to the neuro respiratory positional tests as they provide clinical evidence of an asymmetrical pattern.

There was as much fog in the room at 4:00pm on Saturday as there was on my drive up to VA on Friday night! But… by Sunday at 5pm the sun was out and the connections in their new PRI minds were clear as the weather outside!

PRI is an integrated science and Myokin of the hip and pelvis is just one piece of an integrated system. But what would a Diaphragm be without a solid pelvic base and a good appreciation of AFIR in stance and AFER in swing!

I was honored to have Dr. Felix Liao, DDS author of “6 foot Tiger in a 3-foot cage”! Dr. Liao considers himself an airway mouth dentist. He was in attendance to understand the perspective of the PRI therapist, so he can better understand the neuro mechanics of PRI and how he can better help patients integrate!

Jennifer Gamboa, Lisa Clarkson and the entire staff of Body Dynamics welcomed all of us to their clinic. These professionals all work well together and it was so fun to watch how they picked right up on PRI methods. Lisa had been exposed to PRI out in Seattle as a student. She did a great job hosting us this weekend!

This class kept me on my toes and asked awesome questions to better understands how to integrate PRI into the current practice. I always enjoy teach Myokinematics of the Hip and Pelvis. It helps further stabilize my own clinical practice and reinforce the importance of sound PRI fundamentals in my treatment plan.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

A few days before this course, I was reviewing the material and made a remark to Jen Platt on how much “good” stuff is in this course, that I forget about from year to year. It is so enjoyable to have an opportunity to discuss the reasoning one might use before selecting a position to place a client or patient in, before selecting a non-manual technique. What went into the thought processing regarding reference centers and concepts and why is it important to select an appropriate primary reference for desirable “referent” behavioral outcomes? 

Results are based on preparation. Preparing the patient on what to be mindful of, sense, possibly expect, experience, etc. are all more important than making sure they are doing the technique “correctly”. Processing information can be difficult if individual centers of tactility are not explored first. Words matter, word placement matters, word meaning matters, word correlates matter, word integration matters and word synchrony matters. 

This course allows me to review this communication process, inhibitory intensity and neurologic effort for those who have unique limitations but very similar outcome needs, relating to pattern development around asymmetrical design. Over twenty different non-manual techniques, many of which were selected by the attendees, were reviewed, torn apart, discussed, re-designed and then re-designed again, to recognize reliability of approach and validity of use. It is personal for me. And therefore, an opportunity for those who share their transparencies to reap “good” stuff.