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Welcome to the Postural Restoration Community! This is where you will read the latest industry news, hear about upcoming events, find helpful deadline reminders, and view a plethora of additional resources regarding our techniques and curriculum. The great part about it is--not only can you can view the entries we post, you can also post about the things that matter to you. Did you find an interesting article about a technique you learned in one of your courses? Do you have a patient case study you want to share with other professionals? Simply click "Submit an Entry" and follow the easy steps towards getting your information published in the PRI Community!

Blog Posts in June 2017

This past weekend’s Postural Respiration was held at Quinnipiac University, at the Frank Netter School of Medicine, where many of his iconic, albeit symmetrical, medical illustrations line the hallways. We had a lively mix of PTs, ATCs, and SCSs, most of whom had at least some exposure to the PRI paradigm and were eager to develop a greater understanding of the science. Mainstay characters, such as little Russian boy, Charlie, Owen, the Chain Smoker, and pec-man illustrated how loss of alternating, reciprocal movement, from improper training, incomplete integration of primitive reflexes, or habitual, uni-dimensional postures contribute to a vicious cycle of compensated, sub-optimal breathing in an attempt to get air, leading to even greater compromise in breathing. Much time was devoted to getting hands on rib cages, securing a zone on the left, and guiding air flow to allow participants to feel more optimal respiration.
Special thanks to Brijesh Patel for hosting and keeping everyone well-fed; models Brian Wolfe, James Pasquin, Matt Herhal, Andrea Goldberg, and Vasilina Sosnina-Waldron; reader Nicholas Buchta; and the A-list lab assistants Donna Behr and Miguel Aragoncillo who provided superb clinical pearls.

Posted June 30, 2017 at 8:39AM

We are excited to announce and congratulate our second Postural Restoration Trained (PRT) Class in 2017! This was our first summer testing date, and we plan to offer this every three years, in addition to the annual January testing program. PRT is the result of completing multiple advanced PRI courses, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the science through completion of the PRT application, and successfully participating in practical and analytical testing. This past weekend, five gentleman earned the designation of Postural Restoration Trained (PRT) under the direction of Ron Hruska, Gibbie Duval and Jennifer Platt.

The Postural Restoration Institute® established this credentialing process in 2011 as a way to recognize and identify individuals with advanced training, extraordinary interest and devotion to the science of postural adaptations, asymmetrical patterns and the influence of polyarticular chains of muscles on the human body as defined by the Postural Restoration Institute®.  The PRT credential is available to Certified Athletic Trainers, Certified Athletic Therapists and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists who have completed the course requirements, application and testing process. With the addition of this class, there are now 46 PRT professionals throughout the U.S and Internationally.

PRT credentialed athletic trainers and strength and conditioning coaches offer a unique approach to physical medicine and fitness called Postural Restoration®. This approach addresses underlying biomechanics which can often lead to symptoms of pain and dysfunction. All mechanical influences on the body that restrict movement and contribute to improper joint and muscle position are considered, examined, and assessed. Techniques are utilized to restore proper alignment of the body while proper respiratory dynamics are considered. Management encompasses prevention and lifetime integration for long-term successful outcomes.

Congratulations!

Pictured below from left to right: (Back Row) Jonathan Rowe, Gibbie Duval, Sean Light; (Front Row) Ron Hruska, Yusuke Nakayama, Jonathan Lam, Jennifer Platt and Joshua Ogden

Posted June 27, 2017 at 9:36AM

Josh Olinick emailed this document titled “Desired PRI Clinical Application for Integrated Gait Progression Activities: Facilitating Right Brachial Inhale and Left Brachial Exhale During Left Stance”. Ron and I had a chance to go through this with Josh, and we love what he has put together. Ron is looking forward to discussing this document further at the Advanced Integration course in December!

Foreword from Josh:

I should start with the disclaimer that this was not my idea.  I was talking with James Anderson a few years back and he suggested that I try taking the article he wrote on left AIC inhibition/ delay and modify for the brachial chains.  I took a quick stab at it then, but wasn’t really happy with what I had come up with.  At that time, I was over loaded by opening a new clinic and couldn’t commit the time needed, but the idea kept running around in my head.  I had some time this year to write it out.  I think what makes the Myokin content more easily understandable is that a human is either in right stance or left stance, and they are either in a Left AIC pattern or a Right AIC pattern (without compensations like a PEC).  But the brachial chains seemed more complicated to me because they were more directly related to phase of respiration.  Bramble and Carrier showed that humans differ from other animals in that they can take up to 6 steps per breath while running.  This suggests that respiratory influence on the AIC and stance phase is more easily overridden than in the brachial chain.  So rather than focusing on individual chain inhibitory musculature like James did in his article, I decided to take a step back and consider what a patient in a right brachial chain pattern needs during Left stance in a Right AIC pattern.  Well, the easy answer that is taught in the Postural Respiration course is “Right Trunk Rotation”.  The thing I kept running into though is that position of the trunk is dynamic during stance phase and that respiratory phase is independent of that.  The more complete answer I came to is that in early left stance the right trunk needs to be more open (sooner) to reduce “listing” onto the left LE, thus the right chest wall needs to have a more inhaled state.  Whereas in late left stance, the left trunk needs to remain closed (longer) to allow a right heel contact without premature compression of the Right rib cage (i.e. keeping the left rib cage exhaled longer).  This idea is similar to James’ work on inhibition and delay in that the patient needs to get their left ZOA sooner (while the right upper trunk is rotated to the left) and keep it longer (while the right upper trunk is rotating towards the right – regardless of phase of breathing).  Hopefully this can help others in activity choice during different phases of their patients plan of care!

Read the article HERE.

Posted June 16, 2017 at 1:13PM

It is always great to teach PRI at Northeastern University. The Sports Medicine Department has embraced the teachings of the Postural Restoration Institute and their entire staff does such an amazing job hosting courses for us. The facility is great having both a lecture room and an adjacent lab room for clinical testing and practicing techniques. Mike McKenney, ATC and Elizabeth Sheehan, ATC made sure we had everything we needed for a great weekend. The entire Northeastern staff in attendance were really starting to put this science together for their athletes! I enjoyed all of my "side bar" conversations with this group.

 It was also great for me to see some faces I had just seen in Providence, RI a few weeks ago back for more PRI! Matt Silvaggio, MSPT, Matt Medeiros, DPT, Chris Gomes, DPT CSCS and Jonathon Carroll CSCS were all at University Orthopedics Pelvis Course with me. That makes me so happy to see clinicians enthusiasm to learn more! The Ah Has were going off for this group!

My lab assistants were a real power house. This was a large class so having 2 PRC's Donna Behr and Anita Furbush along with PRT's Miguel Aragoncillo and Navin Hettiarachchi was hugely supportive. This class size of 55 students was almost an equal split of rehab professionals and wellness professionals. So having support from both PRCs and PRTs was great!

38/55 students were what we call PRI newbies! The energy was positive and the depth of knowledge in this group was vast. Recently I have been teaching the Pelvis course a lot, so it was fun to switch gears into discussion of Hole Control and AF vs. FA control of a hip and pelvis! Personally I had the pleasure of teaching Kirsten Bombardier, DPT her first PRI course. Her parents and I have been friends for years and Kirsten used to babysit my girls when they were babies. How great it was to bring her into the PRINation! She left excited to sign up for her next PRI course.

Thanks again to all who attended and I appreciate all of the Twitter love that was sent out during and following the course. I teach for the love of PRI and I always learn from my course attendees!

A Big shout out to Queen B for her song Irreplaceable for giving me the quote of the weekend "to the left to the left". See you in the fall PRINation!

Posted June 14, 2017 at 10:57AM

PRI Nation made our maiden voyage into the Milwaukee area last weekend! I felt very honored to be the one to introduce PRI to an area that, as I found out during the course, is very interested in learning more about the science of PRI. We had 27 attendees who were learning about PRI for the first time, which was a great thrill. A big shout out to Sarah Petrich, DPT, PRC, who made the drive in from Minneapolis to be my lab assistant for the weekend. She was a great help and kept us on track with timely questions to promote further dialogue and explanation, such as "why and how is a resistance band in PRI used for 'assistance' rather than 'resistance'?" Another huge "Thank You" to Allen Weeks, DPT, who was gracious enough to be one of our main models for demonstration purposes, and allowed us to see and feel what a 4/5 Hruska Adduction Lift test looked and felt like. He allowed at least 15 of us an opportunity to slide under his leg so we could feel and see what a solid 4/5 Adduction Lift Test felt like as an examiner. Another huge thanks to Aurora and Marquette University for hosting the course, and special thanks to Gina Black, DPT, for all of her help as well. It was so exciting to see first time attendees like Brandon Yoder, ATC, Chris Turner, PT, Eric Davis, PTA, Nate Hornung, DPT, Eric Stone, CSCS, Ike Ogata, ATC, and Mark Payares, DPT, ask great questions about the gait pattern and how to apply PRI in their environment, as well as experience their own asymmetrical human form. It was also very rewarding to see familiar faces like Kali Frantz, ATC, Julie Martin, ATC, Jenna Wooten, CSCS, Kate Bowers, ATC, and Tenshi Furumi, ATC, coming back to attend another PRI course. It was a great weekend of skeleton sheets, asymmetrical patterned movement behavior, comparing the gait cycle to an interstate interchange, and needing less "Batman" and more "Bruce Wayne" in our lives!

Posted June 12, 2017 at 11:47AM

Driving a few hours down Interstate 80 to give a course on Posture and the Diaphragm is absolutely one of the most rewarding experiences I could have.   Kearney is in the heartland of America, where the westward push of the railroad began as the Civil War ended.    This course was held at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.  Scott Unruh Ed.D, ATC, director of the Athletic Training program was our host coordinator and once again made all of us feel at home, even when the band was practicing down the hallway.    Whitney Schroer ATC, our PRI student intern for the summer, was there to help with registration and administrative processes.   Whitney is also working on obtaining her MPA through Grand Valley State.   I asked her what she appreciated the most by attending her first PRI course on Postural Respiration and she replied; “I did not recognize how everyone is stronger on the right lower extremity during right push off and right hip extension.   This allows them to rotate better to the left with their torsos and trunks, which is why they like to run counterclockwise around tracks versus clockwise”.  She also appreciated knowing that our sternum in this situation becomes rotationally oriented to the left.  Thoracic true rib rotation to the left, on a spine that remains oriented to the right, creates a flare of the distal left xiphoid and a depression of the right manubrium.  (Right BC sternum orientation reflects right rib external rotation and left rib internal rotation).    I always wonder what first time attendees take home from their first primary PRI course.

Bonnie Mevis DPT, Kathy Denning PT, and Kalista Carlson LMT were so helpful in allowing me to demonstrate manual technique procedures and outcomes.  We had such powerful lab time with their help.   Mark Cairns ATC,PRT and Justin Kral DPT, PRC were also instrumental in teaching and mentoring during our lab sessions.   All in all, the time on the road reflecting, this community of integrative minds and the educational setting helped me appreciate even more the history and the importance of ‘westward push’ from Kearney!

Posted June 7, 2017 at 4:23PM

THE CANTRELL CENTER IS HIRING!

The Cantrell Center for Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine is now hiring for the following position:  
LICENSED PHYSICAL THERAPIST - IMMEDIATE JOB OPENING IN WARNER ROBINS, GA
**Spring Graduates may apply**

The Cantrell Center for Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine is now interviewing for a Licensed Physical Therapist.  We are a Postural Restoration Certified Facility and you will work with and learn from the very best!                      

The Cantrell Center for Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine is proud to have served Middle Georgia and the community at large as an independently owned clinic and wellness facility celebrating our 25th year in business on June 29th, 2017! Our expert services and individualized programs for our patients and clients have made us the number one outpatient rehabilitation facility in the region. 

What makes the Cantrell Center a great place to work?
We are a collaborative environment, where patient care is paramount and each team member’s gifts and experiences blend to create an atmosphere of integrity and encouragement. As part of our team, you will work side-by-side with like-minded and dedicated colleagues, while enjoying the opportunity to build your own career.

Located in Warner Robins, Georgia, the Cantrell Center is positioned in the Middle of the state!  Just a quick drive to Atlanta or the beach, Warner Robins offers convenience to any interest without the crime rate and elevated costs of a larger city.  Visit the website of the Robins Regional Chamber of Commerce for more information about the city of Warner Robins.

WE OFFER:

  • A Work/Life Balance -- We understand that you have a family outside of work.
  • Outstanding work environment – Beautiful, clean, state-of-the-art facility! A fun, positive atmosphere!
  • Commitment to clinical excellence - You'll learn from the best!
  • Team atmosphere - Our employees care about each other!
  • Ethical standards - We have a reputation for the best patient care!
  • Constant training and learning - You will learn Postural Restoration Institute treatment methods.
  • An excellent mentoring program for new hires – especially for new grads
  • Competitive salary and benefits package

Learn more about the Cantrell Center:

Find us on Facebook!

We encourage you to visit our website for more information about our company and our programs. 
If you like what you see there, please contact/submit your resume to Mary Oakley, PT, CHT, at vpop@cantrellcenter.com.

Posted June 6, 2017 at 1:45PM

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