Earlier this month, we hosted 90+ professionals from all around the world for our 8th Annual Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium. We were so excited to show off YOUR new PRI Headquarters building. Day one started off with Rachel Loveless, Au.D., CCC-A, who gave us a great knowledge base to build off of for the next two days off. After that Jennifer Bullock, PT, OCS, PRC shared a personal story with her and her children’s experience with Auditory Processing Disorder with great treatment recommendations. Valerie Dejean, OT gave her first talk about A.A. Tomatis and her experience in France learning from the otolaryngologist and some of the reasons that the Tomatis Method has had an incredible impact on her practice. Heidi Wise led off with how the ear determines where sound is coming from and how the visual and auditory processes are related. Our first day concluded with Rhonda Musak, a NYC based actress with her performance “Rhonda Badonda: The Adventures of a Girl with a Pain in her Brain” where she documented the struggles that she was going through before being treated by Valerie Dejean and the Tomatis Method. It was an amazing experience, and we were so luck to have found Rhonda (thorough Valerie Dejean).

Day two started off with Valerie building off her first talk and she talked about how to build a mind, the development of language and how learning and consciousness are intertwined, she also led the room in a chanting exercise. Ron Hruska talked next on Hyperacusis, Tinnitus and Misophonia, where he described that many patients who have tinnitus naturally habituate to it which is one of the reasons it can be so difficult to treat. In Ron and Heidi’s next talk; Rhythm, Resonance and Reverberation, they talked about how your body has its own vibration down to a cellular level and how rhythm helps us to breathe, effortlessly walk and rotate a rib cage. Matthew Uohara, CSCS, PRT talked about how to use sound to maximize performance, and he talked about how when he is coaching he will use specific words, consonants or vowels or the client’s name at different distances depending on what training response he is going for. Ron and Heidi finished the day with teaching the class how to correctly establish resonance usuing a kazoo and a couple of take home apps, techniques and music recommendations that they can use with their patients or clients. It was an incredible two days. We can't wait for next year! Yes, that's right.....we are hoping to do a PART II on this symposium in 2017 with the same line up as this year, so stay tuned for more details! This will be in addition to our 9th Annual Interdisciplinay Integration Symposium next April, which will have a new topic of interest that will be released in the next few months!

*Unfortunately with all the hub-bub going on with hosting for the first time in our new headquarters, we didn't get nearly as many pictures as we had hoped for, so these are just a few. We promise to get more next year!

Tom Tardif, DPT and Summit Orthopedics were great hosts for the introductory course, Postural Respiration. Minneapolis has long been a hotbed for PRI training and PRI activity and it was good to be back in the friendly confines of such good people doing what we do. There were a lot of first time attendees, which reminded me of the early years of PRI training, when so many good relationships were nurtured in this area. And a big thank you to Stephanie Kinsella, DPT, PRC for being an excellent lab assistant throughout the course. 

We talked about the airflow pattern and rib cage mechanics one sees when the thorax moves into a patterned hyperinflated state of inhalation and the influence this type of extended thoracic posturing has on the pelvis, the abdominal wall and resting scapular position. The externally rotated rib posture tends to elevate the thorax and move it forward, as the front of the elevated rib cage expands upward and outward and the back of the rib cage closes down and becomes restricted. This faulty position of the anterior rib cage lengthens the abdominal wall, changes the shape of the normally domed diaphragm and moves the diaphragm forward outside the pillar of core stability. We talked about how the restoration of this rib cage and diaphragm alignment, a concept called obtaining a Zone of Apposition, is not only powerful biomechanically, but is especially powerful neurologically. 

We illustrated the frontal plane and transverse plane differences of the lower trap on the right vs the lower trap on the left, as well as discussing its sagittal plane influence on the above mentioned pillar of core stability. We illustrated the sagittal, frontal and transverse plane differences of the Serratus Anterior on the right vs the Serratus Anterior on the left. We were also able to break down the many important thorax performance functions of the Serratus Anterior, like addressing compensatory neck tone on the right, the ability to translate a deflated rib cage posteriorly on the left side, the ability to translate a rib cage laterally from right to left (right Serratus Anterior), and the ability to activate the abdominal wall in the frontal and transverse planes on the left (left Serratus Anterior and left Low Trap) and in the sagittal plane on the left (left Serratus Anterior).

We had lots of “ah ha” moments during both the testing component of the hands on lab and also the treatment component, where we performed our manual rib cage restoration techniques. Stephanie Kinsella, DPT, PRC was invaluable as we worked through the details of these manual techniques. The right BC treatment guidelines sheet was our friend throughout the second day as we worked together to get our heads around what to do clinically to address these rib cage patterns. A great group with a great attitude for learning new and different things made for a great weekend indeed.

Had a super weekend in San Francisco at the University of California, San Francisco teaching Myokinematic Restoration. The UCSF School of Medicine was a wonderful host all the way around and it was a pleasure to have Dan Houglum, MSPT, ATC/L, PRC and Carol Cahn, PT, PRC in attendance working as lab assistants. Thank you to Mark Yanai, PT, for coming all the way from Hawaii to get first hand experience with PRI, based on the recommendations of the shady character, Randy Fukuji. Thank you to Ray Gorman, DPT, for your thoughtful insights and comments throughout the course and for representing Northern Nevada, even though you don’t love my alma mater, UNLV as much as I do. And Tiffany Asp, DPT, you were also a great addition to the course, with your detailed questions and insights. You represented Stanford University very well.  And a big thank you to Kyle Hardwick, DC and LaMar Sheppard, for representing the Chiropractic profession. Its always a pleasure to learn with and learn from you guys. So many great attendees with so much to offer.

Started the weekend Friday night in Oakland at Oracle Arena watching the very hot Golden State Warriors play my longtime favorite, Boston Celtics. The Warriors were undefeated at home this year and this game should have been their 55^th consecutive home win, but the scrappy green and white Celtics pulled off the upset. This set the stage for a Saturday PRI course built around coloring pelvic and hip muscle attachment sites and lots of emphasis on the very important “green” Obturator Internus. I’m always looking for a reason to wear my Larry Bird socks.

We discussed the three-dimensional control of the acetabulum over the femur and also the use of ligamentous muscle to stabilize pathologically lax hip joints.  We talked about what is required of the AF joint during different phases of the gait cycle on both sides of the body and related these requirements to what we test for with the Hruska Adduction Lift Test and the Hruska Abduction Lift Test. We also came to appreciate the muscles that oppose the left AIC pattern and the specific planes that are the most necessary for each one of the hip rotator muscles on both the right and left sides of the body.

It was so great to have such an enthusiastic and engaging class of attendees in this course. They are going to do great things with the science of PRI. All in all, it was a great weekend in the San Francisco Bay area. Basketball, Biomechanics and Ghirardelli Chocolate. How do you beat that?