It is always comforting to be teaching PRI regardless of location, but last weekend I was in Detroit, MI. My wife's family are all from just west and south of the Detroit area, so I was in very familiar surroundings. And the host group of Team Rehabilitation was an excellent bunch to host Myokinematic Restoration.

With a full room of nearly 40 health care professionals and movement specialists, and nearly all in attendance having never heard PRI previously, it was an awesome learning environment for everyone. This group was very dynamic and asked great questions. As this course evolves, we end up adding more and more lab time. This past weekend, 1/3 of the course was lab based, so we had ample opportunity to learn from each other.

We started our dive into the difference between normal pelvifemoral mechanics around the normal neuromechanical presentation that is the L AIC pattern. Then we went deeper into normal compensation vs. pathological compensation patterns. We transitioned into muscular ramifications of the inability to get out of the L AIC pattern, which highlighted the importance of having a "good boy band" rather than a "bad boy band."

We had ample time to practice the positional testing as we were able to determine what patterns we all had inside of us. Low and behold, every single one of the attendees proved to be in a PEC pattern. Based on this group of attendees all having the same extended pattern, we had to have the "Batman vs. Bruce Wayne" conversation. I was in a room of "Batmans”, and we all needed to be more like "Bruce Wayne." This necessitated a demonstration of how to get someone out of a PEC pattern and into a L AIC pattern, so the rest of the weekend had an opportunity to resonate with the attendees. With two activities, we were able to take a very strong PEC individual, and turn them into a L AIC pattern. Because underneath the bilateral extended patterns of the PEC lies a L AIC pattern.

The "PEC busting" demonstration helped us proceed into the management of a L AIC pattern. Nearly the entire afternoon on Sunday was lab time, where everyone had the opportunity to find and feel hamstring, IC Adductor, gluteus medius, internal obliques, and gluteus maximus activity. Reports of "feeling different" and "feeling my hips" were common comments after our lab.

My thanks to Team Rehabilitation for their hospitality. They know how to host a course! My thanks to Shelly DeRuiter and Craig Stasio, who were awesome lab assistants. Thank you to Cyril Shuster, Alexandre Vieria, Todd Cummings, and Michele Weis for your excellent questions and re-states. Thank you to Michelle Shrader and David Selak for allowing us to learn from you in our demonstration portions of the class. My hat is off to Alexandre Vieria, as he traveled from Brazil to hear PRI! I greatly appreciate our conversation around tennis players and the necessity to have excellent frontal plane integration. Thanks to everyone for great weekend!

It's not too late, but the Postural Restoration Trained™ (PRT) credentialing program application deadline is quickly approaching! If you are interested in applying this year, applications are due on October 15th and testing will take place on January 7-8, 2019 in Lincoln. To learn more about eligibility for PRT credentialing and download the application, CLICK HERE!

What have others shared about their experience with PRT credentialing? 

"The PRT credentialing process was a wonderfully fulfilling experience. The challenge of putting together the application combined with the nurturing environment of the testing phase in Lincoln was such an impactful learning opportunity. All of the Institute’s staff members involved with the process in addition to my fellow applicants were fantastic in both professional quality and character. I am certainly proud to have earned the PRT designation in the eyes of the Postural Restoration Institute." - Ryan DiPanfilo, ATC, CSCS, PRT

"Obtaining the PRT was more than just taking another test to add letters behind my name. It was an opportunity to challenge myself to move to the next level in an area I am passionate about. The 2 days at spent at PRT testing weren't the end of over 2 years of studying, but the beginning of moving forward with an organization that is quietly changing the way we treat the human body. I highly encourage anyone who has met the PRT requirements to take the next step to obtain the PRT credentials." - Tim Dempsey, CSCS, PRT

"Everything was great! Really good stimulated critical thinking and application of the information. The two days flowed really well and built off of everything before it. The application process was a great learning experience in itself." - Andrew Hauser, ATC, CSCS, PRT

I enjoyed teaching Myokinematics of the Hip and Pelvis last weekend in Asheville, NC! This was a special weekend as I was able to take Mr. Jen Poulin aka Chris with me to help! It has been awhile since we were able to travel and teach together. We were joined by Josh Owen, ATC, PRT. It was great to meet Josh and have him help with the labs.

This course was hosted by the fun energetic group of clinicians from the Charles George VA Hospital. Tammy, Doug, Amy, Monica to name just a few of the staff, made us feel welcome.

Most of the class were taking their first PRI course! I always enjoy this class as it really hits home the fundamental concepts of AF and FA position and common compensations. We all appreciate the importance of respiration as it relates to stabilization of a pattern. This course really helps the course participant understand how respiration and gait are so interconnected. Concepts of swing vs. stance, AFIR, AFER and soft tissue compensations were understood as it relates to position, pattern and performance. I had so much fun teaching this past weekend! I can't wait to come back!

I will get a few weeks off and look forward to heading up to Worcester, Mass on Oct. 13-14th to teach this awesome course again!

Thanks for everyone's prayers for NC. Hurricane Florence left her mark, but we are Carolina Strong!

Thanks to hurricane Florence, I got to fly into Chicago early and explore downtown. What a great city! So much to do I wish I could have stayed another 3 days! This was the second time we taught in the Chicago area, as this was one of the very first host sites to the PRI Integration for Fitness and Movement course back in 2016. It’s fun to reflect back on how far we have come and how much the course has evolved to help the PRI science progress. We were lucky to have some attendees return for a second time and their post course reviews reported great improvements and positive comments on how the labs were more integrated, practical, and helpful. Some quotes from the course evaluations were:

“This manual is a treasure. Instructors artfully simplified all 3 primary PRI courses into a clear and continuous narrative. This course helped integrate and synthesize the more abstract concepts of other PRI courses. This was an amazing course and I am so grateful!”

A Pilates Instructor says: “The instructors kept my attention the entire time! Amazing! I never found myself daydreaming. This course will help me better screen clients and create more individual focused programs for each client.”

Another Strength Coach says “Super valuable course. Powerful material to help guide fitness professionals from driving dysfunction and pathology. The details and variations of exercises will help me better work with clients with dysfunction and pain patterns”.

I am very grateful to the fabulous hosts: Mark Cibrario, Wynne Conklin, and Kyle Cibrario at The Trainers Club. Thank you for being so welcoming and gracious and we were lucky they hosted this course because the space was perfect and their passion for fitness and movement was spot on!

We had a great mix of PRI trained attendees along with first timers and it made for a fun group. PRI experienced people appreciated how we simplified complex principles, avoided rabbit holes, and taught practical application, and new attendees got exposed to the big picture and application to start using key principles and to help facilitate better retention in subsequent courses. I’ve gotten to a point in teaching where the diverse audience we tend to attract is something that excites me and I love the challenge of uniting minds and professionals and helping all attendees look at axial movements and hyperactivity patterns for trunk stability through a different lens. Every course I learn something as we can all learn from one another!

The brain reflexively searches and identifies patterns for motor learning, just as we learn components of larger movement patterns, its mastering some of these basic micromovement patterns that creates the stability and motor control many of our clients are searching for to move painfree. Motor control and instability issues are not always a problem of weakness or lack of strength. People waste time and energy trying to strengthen muscles that don’t need to be strengthened and then create misuse patterns further complicating the movement sequencing. This course is one of the only courses that breaks down three planes of movement of the axial frame into the micromovements that clients need to maximize output in larger movement patterns. This is a lab heavy course, as we break down components of foreign movements and get people practicing feeling them and coaching them right away. Organizing components of axial movement in the sagittal and frontal plane for proper loading and lateralization is so crucial for todays perception of postural health. On day 2 we discuss key neurorespiratory principles as related to larger movement patterns like the squat and deadlift, as well as single legged movements like the RDL, Bulgarian split squats and steps ups.

 If you have any interest in attending, don’t hesitate and sign up today for the Philadelphia course October 6-7. It will be our last course of this year and you don’t want to miss the distribution of this year’s course manual!! Its not too late to sign up! Sign up today to attend PRI Fitness and Movement at The Training Room Physical Therapy at Maplezone Sports Institute in Philadelphia, PA. See you there!!