It was a great weekend in New York teaching Pelvis Restoration. We had 48 clinicians attending the course and 13 were attending their first PRI Course….they made it! Pelvis entails positioning of the pelvic inlet and outlet coupled with muscles facilitation and inhibition with respiration. It’s a lot. I felt the class did an amazing job absorbing the material and asking wonderful questions. Edmund, Sebastian, and Romina your thinking and questioning benefiting the entire class, thank you. Frontal plane appreciation with synchronization of the respiratory and pelvic diaphragm were emphasized with demonstration. Nicole is your left ischial condylar adductor still burning? Geri, I hope you appreciated frontal plane of the left inlet and outlet to re-direct airflow into the right apical chest wall and left posterior mediastinum. Physical appreciation of PRI is powerful, thank you both for letting me teach throught you to the class. The weekend went way too fast, I appreciated everyone and their willingness to come and learn. Thank you Dave, Cuyler, and Brendan and Finish Line for hosting. Neal and Sean thank you for lab assisting! I was able to see the Rockettes in their annual Christmas show,  it was specatular!  Bucket List for me since I was young. Thank You again!

In the later part of 2004 I met with Stan Babel through Karen Jiran MPT, PRC and Carrie Langer MPT, ATC, PRC. Stan who owned and managed Physical Medicine Diagnostics Rehabilitation (PD Midway) and wanted to build a pool. At that time I was really interested in hydrodynamics and had countless discussions with my brother who is an engineer regarding pump power, jet nozzles, etc. And more importantly I wanted to design a pool for patterned neuromuscular isolation and inhibition through the use of directional water to maximize specific aquatic afferentation, as well as compensatory push and pull recognized by the autonomic and central nervous systems. My first PRI Sequential Movement (PRISM) pool design was developed and constructed through Stan. All eight of the stations provide neuromuscular isolation and feed forward activation of groups of muscles to resolve postural related dysfunctional autonomic and physiologic behavior through the flow of water. With the arrival of this pool and its science, PDR Midway, became IMPACT Physical Medicine and Aquatic Center.

Presenting course material that is related to the brain’s lateralized hemispheric specialization and the autonomic nervous influence on our central nervous system’s compensatory behavior, fifteen years later, made my amygdala related emotional, sentimental and nostalgic feelings flow uncontrollably. Stan and his wonderful staff over the years has enabled me to continue to move in directions that I patiently outlined, ballooned and flowed with. I feel so indebted and grateful to him and his staffs over the years. Many of those affiliated with this integrated minded center were in this class.

This particular class also made me feel somewhat sentimental, because I have known most, if not all of them, for so many years. They were watched, observed, tested and judged by me. They were my independent, dependent and constant variables for my research effort on knowing when, how and what to deliver to get where we were on November 2nd, 2019. There were 18 Credentialed providers in the room that affectionately tolerated me being somewhat unfiltered regarding autonomic and central nervous systems and their influence on each other and our patterned behavior.  

This course is such a joy for me to teach and resonate around. Just as aquatic flow can re-balance, re-engage, and re-tense us, so can mandibular latero- molar trusive contact, sphenoid (pterygoid) and temporal (temporalis) oscillation, and palatopharyngeus  (diameter of the pharynx) and tensor veli palatine (diameter of the eustacian tube) ANS control. Before Stan, before the pools, before PRI certification, I remember a quote by Socrates that remains with me today. “I cannot teach anybody, I can only make them think” and I am grateful for those who continue to flow and follow thought processes that make them sequentially think.  

The staff at IMPACT are always such wonderful hosts. The morning breakfast, break food and afternoon warm cookies (thank you Stan) are so appreciated. Christie Amundson PT, DPT, HFS,PRC and Mara Brandsoy OTR/L, PRC have a system in place for courses like this. Their and their fellow team-mate’s effort does not go unnoticed.  I also want to thank Amy Pennaz PT and Catherine Shelton PT for their willingness to work with me in demonstrating how to resolve postural related dysfunctional autonomic behavior.

This was the last offering of Myokinematic Restoration for 2019. And what a way to end the year! We had a great group of chiropractors, athletic trainers, physical therapists and PT assistants,  strength coaches, personal trainers, and cranial therapists.  I was very excited to get to sunny northern California, as the we got 4-6 inches of snow the day before I left. Which made for a miserable Halloween.  

Fortunately, only treats and no tricks with PRI! This course affords us the luxury of spending a lot of time in lab.  Nearly 40% of the class is spent in lab, which provides the attendee ample opportunity to find, feel, and experience the science of PRI. This course also provides ample time for us to discuss, explain, and digest the Hruska Adduction and Abduction Lift Tests as a means of determining one's ability to walk and breathe. If walking and breathing require compensation, everything will require compensation.  

We had a great discussion about sympathetic vs. parasympathetic nervous system activity related to pelvic positioning, foot and ankle performance, and how the acetabulum position dictates femoral activity.  

My thanks to Shaun Buchanan and Joan Shepherd Mellows for hosting us and all the logistical work that goes into a successful weekend.  My thanks to Jenn Gaskin, Brian Schulman, John Garland, Cody Gilliss, Michael Serrano, and Tracy Henry for all of their great questions and help during demonstrations.  

But this weekend wouldn't have worked nearly as well if it weren't for Will Waterman, PRC, and Tim Dempsey, PRT. They were fantastic lab assistants and were a great help during the entire course. Without a doubt, they were instrumental to helping this diverse group digest this information. Looking forward to 2020!

Robert Newhelfen, DC, founder of Motus Integrative Health, describes his clinic as “a full integrative health clinic bringing new and unique treatment options to the people of Northwest Indiana.” In keeping with this vision, his clinic hosted Postural Respiration, a unique and integrative approach to addressing postural influences of rib torsion, inconsistent breathing patterns, habitual use of accessory respiratory musculature, and a positionally-restricted diaphragm. As in most PRI courses, we had an interdisciplinary group of course attendees, comprised of PTs, chiropractors, ATCs, and strength and conditioning experts in professional baseball and soccer. Also in attendance was Ruth Hennessey, MM, a vocal specialist well-known in the world of singing. Thank you, Ruth, for your insights into how singers develop faulty breathing strategies and retain undesirable tension that can affect their voice.

From the get-go, we discussed human asymmetry, most notably of the right and left hemi-diaphragms, leading to predictable patterns of muscle activity and movement. Our inherent asymmetry gives us a starting point from which we  shift our bodies and rotate. It is what an infant relies on to make its way from the womb to the external world. This applies to every developmental milestone, from crawling to running. However, when patterned muscle activity "goes rogue", from too much sitting or engaging in the same, repetitive activities, day in and day out, the results are patterned restrictions, injury, and fatigue.  

Course attendees served as one another’s case studies as they compiled PRI objective data to assess for both lower and upper body neuromuscular dys-synchrony and to guide treatment. Thank you to Rebecca Custer, DPT, and Wynne Conklin, CPT, our templates for the entire class for right BC over-activity and its pathological sibling, superior T4 syndrome. We discussed how this syndrome limits first rib mobility. The first rib is the driver behind the mechanics of the entire thorax and, therefore, must remain mobile! This course was updated a year ago. It includes a new test for the brachial chain as well as where, when, and what inhibition techniques fit into the treatment scheme. If you haven’t taken Postural Respiration in a while, it’s time for a refresher!

 
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful questions. Nate Kloosterman, DPT, OCS, gets the prize for most questions asked, keeping this instructor on her toes. A special thank you goes to Adrian Gutierrez, DC, for handling the set-up, food, sign-in, etc.   You were a gracious host and helped make this weekend an enjoyable experience.