PRI Integration for Baseball (Phoenix Arizona) Another first class weekend at the Salt River Fields in Scottsdale Arizona teaching PRI Integration for Baseball with Ben Hagar, DPT, CSCS, PRC. A big thank you to the entire Diamondbacks staff for hosting a great event and making sure we had everything that we needed. Guys like Ryne Eubanks, ATC, Max Esposito, PT, ATC, and Joe Rosauer, MS, ATC were always a step ahead of us providing the necessary set up, food and drinks and the lab equipment we needed. Thanks guys. And thank you to Taylor Lewis, CSCS, PRT for serving as our lab assistant throughout the weekend.

It was great to connect with some old friends and colleagues from my days living and working in Omaha, Mike Bartels, PT, PRC and Eric Pinkall, PT, PRC. Also great to see my PRC classmate and longtime friend from Minneapolis, Karen Jiran, MPT, ATC, PRC and to have her colleague Libby Lostetter, DPT, PRC attend with her. It was great to see some PRI regulars like Kim Hart, DPT, Keisuke Kanno, DPT, CSCS, and Brian Benjamin, DPT and also to get the opportunity to meet some new professionals like Jonathan Erb, PT, Hiroko Sato, ATC, Lilly Baker-Lubin, BASI, DNSET, MS and Terry Phillips, DPT. You guys were all fantastic additions to a great group and a great course.

After introducing the class to the science of PRI and the patterned human body, Ben took over and went into the fundamentals of early phase and late phase throwing mechanics. He broke down the ideal mechanics for optimal performance and compared each phase of throwing to a phase of the gait cycle. He then used slow motion video analysis and the mechanical movement charts in the course manual to break down throwing dysfunction. He did the same thing for hitting mechanics and compared right handed player issues to left handed player issues.

On the second day Ben introduced the three baseball performance tests, quadruped, sitting and standing. The lab experience allowed each attendee to get a good feel for the components of movement being tested with each test. We then then teamed up to break down the three thoracic rotational patterns and treatment recommendations for each. The treatment lab was heavily focused on Superior T4 Syndrome because of its high frequency in baseball athletes. The end of the course outlined training recommendations for early and late phase throwing for both right and left handed players. Another really great weekend integrating PRI with all things baseball.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of presenting Pelvis Restoration for the 3rd time in the last month! I did a course swap earlier this year as I couldn't pass up the opportunity to teach PRI in the Big Apple! My kids had a few days off from school, so we made it a family getaway. And..... My niece Kirsten who goes to school in Florida, just happened to be in the City with her Advertising club. There is nothing better than family and PRI! We spent a few days touring the city and eating our way around town. We took in a Broadway show and visited the 9/11 museum and memorial. It was a nice way to commemorate Veterans Day. Once the family fun was over, it was off to teach at Finish Line PT. This place is just so cool. I taught at this facility around 3 years ago. It is always great to teach again at the facilities that I have taught in the past. This group has taken on a passion for PRI and loves to host courses! Can't wait to come back again in the future.

Pelvis Restoration is all about the frontal plane. I think I might have repeated the femur, pelvic outlet and pelvic inlet frontal plane relationships at least 25 times. I was going for 50, but I think they got it! This group of clinicians were not afraid to ask questions to better understand the material. I had a group of experienced clinicians and first timers that we affectionately refer to as "newbies" The newbies were definitely getting it! At the first break, I was approached by Courtney Pierre who was taking his 3rd PRI course. He was not certain he was understanding PRI, but after my initial remarks, his Ah Ha moments were happening and I am so glad he shared that with me. For those that have learned from me, I know you know how much I love to teach PRI and help bring people to a greater understanding of this integrated science.  Pelvis Restoration is a great platform to begin a PRI journey as it is a bit integrated.

Another special shout out goes to our token Pilates Instructor Maddy Kulesik. Maddy came to the course on the special encouragement from her parents Pat and Ellen. They just happen to be patients and clients of ours in NC. Maddy did great and loved her first PRI course. I don't think it will be her last. Way to go Maddy.

Thanks again to everyone who spent their weekend with me at Finish Line. The staff were amazing hosts and made me feel right at home. This was my last course of 2017 and I will hit the road again in the summer of 2018. Thanks to Jen and Ron for giving me an extended break to spend with my daughter Madison as she will flying out of our nest and off to college next year.

Until we meet again... Have a blessed Holiday Season and Happy New Year.

Salem is a beautiful city about an hour's drive south of Portland depending on the traffic and time of day. My GPS routed me through rolling hills of fall colors, farmland, vineyards and past Klamath Falls. This course was hosted at Salem Health in their new rehab facility which is so busy that they are outgrowing the space just two years after construction. The facility is state-of-the-art with large windows looking at trees turning fall colors outside with green everywhere you looked. The real show was the participation of the students that had diverse professional backgrounds that included physical therapy, chiropractic, athletic training, strength and conditioning and massage therapy. There were five athletic trainers that represented two teams from major league baseball and their questions came in fast, accurate and intelligent with no curve balls! Members of the rehab team from Salem Health represented their facility by not only providing this venue but bringing energy to the whole weekend. Shout out to Mark Kucey for his recipes for an autoclave and his engineer mind with restates and questions. In fact, this entire group of students was quick with restates and questions that mattered to the rest of the class and lifted everyone's game including this faculty member! Huge kudos to lab assistant Tina Haiser, DPT, PRC and super Lisa Davis, PTA for doing the behind-the-scenes hard work of food, signing people into the course and making the weekend run smoothly for all involved.

Every course can use more time in lab is a general consensus. This weekend was no exception however lab time was ample enough to give everyone a chance to be introduced to and practice the Three Big manual techniques including L AIC, Superior T-4 and Subclavius release.

The demonstration for determining if a patient is a Superior T-4 Syndrome individual went very well considering the subject is a running coach and sees this issue in all of her patients. It was a first time for her in Postural Respiration and as a side note after the technique was demonstrated on her, she experienced a change in her neck symptoms and cuboid symptoms as well for the better. Needless to say there was no shortage of enthusiasm from the entire group and in short it was a faculty member's dream team of diverse professions sharing a common goal to help others while expanding their knowledge. One of the questions that came up is if an athlete has a pattern they rely on for performance will introducing a new pattern affect their performance? We don't want to take anyone's performance pattern away. We simply want to give them a place to find and feel new places to go in their body to rest, recover and restore.

Myokinematic Restoration (San Diego, CA) Had a very nice weekend in Southern California teaming up with Skip George, DC, PRC to teach the Myokinematic Restoration course at Water and Sports PT. Its great when one of our courses is close enough to another PRI faculty member and they are able to assist in a course as lab assistant. Thank you Skip for sharing you insights and experience with the class during our lab time.

The Myokinematic Restoration course is one of the original two courses of the institute, following the flagship Postural Respiration course. Much of the course content started as a Protonics course that both Mike Cantrell and I were fortunate enough to get to teach early in our careers. And when Ron asked Mike to join the two of us as PRI's third faculty member, he asked me to mentor Mike in the presentation of the Myokinematic Restoration course. So Mike and I and this course go way back together and it was just cool that we were both assigned to teach this course in different locations on the same weekend (something that doesn't happen that often any more). He was in Detroit and I was in San Diego, but when Skip helped connect Mike's class with ours via a conference call, it felt just like old times. So thanks Skip, thanks Mike and thank you Detroit class attendees for spending a little of your time with us and allowing us a historical connection.

As far as the course content is concerned, it has evolved to the point of being a really great clinical class. Powerful PRI concepts like ligamentous muscle, obturator hole (acetabular) control, and respiratory inhibition of the Left AIC Pattern were central elements of the course. Recent updates to the Myokinematic treatment algorithm do a great job directing clinicians through the process of advancing their patients up into standing alternating reciprocal activity. The course does a good job using the results from the Hruska Adduction Lift Test and the Hruska Abduction Lift Test to guide the process. The decision making tree for needing inhibition techniques, extra support in standing and integrative support to get the left abdominals to work better with left AFIR is a powerful clinical tool and one the class really appreciated. Loved the class, loved the content and loved the reflection on our institute's history with this course.