I had a great time this weekend in Lincoln NE, at the Postural Restoration Insitute. I had the pleasure of teaching Myokinematics of the HIp and Pelvis to 12 in person and 55 live stream attendees. The Institute continues to grow and it was my pleasure mentoring both Jason Miller and Craig Depperschmidt. They were not only my lab assistants for the weekend, but they both jumped right in to help me teach the Sunday afternoon clinical application of both facilitation and inhibition non manual techniques.

I really enjoy teaching and helping both new and seasoned PRI clinicians along their PRI journeys. We had some great discussions on the differences between orientation (uncompensated) and compensations that are commonly seen at the FA joint when a pelvis gets positioned in a L AIC pattern. No two courses in PRI are taught the same and this course was no different. I had the privilege of sharing my 20 years of PRI clinical experience and 11 years of teaching with this weekend's course attendees. We had fun using some of my favorite musicians references Lady Gaga (born this way), Beyonce (to the left) and new to 2022 Dua Lipa (Levitate)! Go get those 5/5 HADLT and see those patients levitate off the table! Cheers until we meet again PRInation! Thanks to Kevin Fay for giving me yet another musical reference from Idina Menzel (let it go) to help us all remember how important inhibition is early in a program!

The Impingement and Instability course was the kick-off for PRI in 2022, and I was fortunate to be able to have several friends and colleagues in the audience. With this course being updated only two years ago, it has a decided different feel compared to the previous iterations. We were fortunate to have nearly 50 attendees via Zoom from 10 different countries, and 8 movement professionals in-person. With so much PRI experience "in the room", both in-person and virtual, we were afforded the luxury of delving into the neurology of PRI.  

Our ability to make substantial and long-standing change to our posture is dependent upon our ability to change how our brain perceives the environment and gravity.  This course explains how that occurs and why reference centers are a better "road map" for us to be able to modify our patterns and habits.  Starting at the calcaneus and talus, we discussed integration of the femur and why we need it to be unstable, which lead us to the pelvis and why pelvic inlets and outlets are linked to the calcaneus.  We were able to spend nearly 4 hours on linking the scapula and underlying thorax to the pelvis and femur and calcaneus.  Our ability to compress and decompress several different "floors" on each side allows our body to make sense of this Morse Code-like alternation for improved posture, patterns, and respiration.  

My thanks to the entire crew from Edge Physical Therapy: Beth, Mike, Brett, and Eric. Thank you for your questions and dialogue. And thank you to Meg and allowing us to learn from your experience of what it finally means to feel the floor under your feet.  And thanks to Lori Thompson and taking the time to go through the Shoe List.  That was a perfect conversation at the part of the course, and I truly hope those in attendance understand just how unique that experience was for all of us.  Thanks to all of those who attended, and here's to a wonderful 2022!

A serendipitous encounter…

This past March, we had the honor of teaching an Occlusal Cervical Restoration live stream course to over 70 interdisciplinary professionals including several dentists. It was during that live stream course that we unexpectedly discovered that Dr. James Carlson, DDS, a giant in his profession and someone we have referenced in course material for years, was still alive! One of his good friends and colleagues put us in touch with him the following week, and this serendipitous discovery has led not only to a new friendship, but also an expanded collaborative effort on the importance of interdisciplinary team management between dentists and movement professionals. Dr. Carlson has since graced us with his presence on a Cervical Revolution and Occlusal Cervical Restoration live stream, leaving course participants with interactions and discussions that won’t soon be forgotten. In our first meeting with Dr. Carlson back in April, we knew that we had an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up. And so, despite thinking we had just finished our last Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium of its kind a few days earlier, Ron’s heart was tugged to do yet another. And it was during that first meeting, that we invited Dr. James Carlson to present as our featured speaker for our 13th Annual Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium, which is titled “The Stomatognathic System – An Interdisciplinary Approach in the Management of Spatial Navigation and Structural Strength”. The stomatognathic system is sometimes referred to as the masticatory system, however Dr. Carlson as he wrote in his book, Analyzing the Stomatognathic System, sometimes refers to it as the “cranio-maxillomandibular-cervical-dental complex”. As
a dentist, Dr. Carlson recognized early on in his career that there is a “bigger picture”, which includes caring for the components of the stomatognathic system. Collectively, we feel that it’s important that all healthcare and fitness professionals recognize this as well. And so, we invite you to join us in April, for an Interdisciplinary Integration Symposium that you won’t want to miss!

Our 2022 course brochure should be arriving to your mailboxes, doorsteps, offices and mailrooms soon, if it hasn't already!

We are so excited for the opportunities this year will bring and continuing our mission to explore and explain the science of postural adaptations, asymmetrical patterns and the influence of polyarticular chains of muscles.

I honestly look forward to the Advanced Integration course every year. It offers a moment in time, at the end of the year to reflect and to resolve issues that arose in the time period between the last Advanced Integration course and the present one. It is a moment in my personal life where I can decide if I should move into areas of discussion built off of  platforms that were laid down in the recent past, or not. It is a brief period of time where I can review where we, as an Institute, are with respect to concepts that are better accepted and appreciated. This acceptance and appreciation will result in longer periods of time where application becomes a mainstream of future assessment and intervention, and more importantly, an expectation.  

Summarizing the same main concepts in 2004, at the first Advanced Integration course, offered me a moment to integrate neurological, biased, patterns of breathing with tri-planar movement and muscle through discussions on thoracic flexion and curvature of the spine, with 20 to 30 people. Who would have ever thought that there would be 80 plus people, from 8 different countries, attending a four day course with the same title, the same platforms, but advance application because of 17 other moments in time where this course, with the same title, in the same number of days, advanced the original moments in time, so exponentially.

Focusing on dextral orientation, thought processes the human uses for integrated  unilateral and contralateral anatomy and associated sense, two central diaphragm axis’s that regulate our spinal axis, and the importance of ‘left hand to right knee’ function, in today’s world of unlimited Artificial Intelligence (AI)  and limited Advanced Integration (AI), is a reflection of many, many moments in this Institute’s history, where planned periods of time, in this case 96 hours or 4 days, had a major impact on future AI.

Thank you Locatelli Rao DPT, OCS, PRC, Greer Mackie PT, DPT, OCS, Donald Ryan Hodge CSCS, LMT, and Beth Lewis for your help with live demonstration and discussion. We were so grateful. Thank you Taylor Boryca, PTA, for your Kolaches (Czech and Polish fruit pastry that I was raised on) that you served us. And most importantly, thank you Louise Kelley, DPT, PRC, Lori Thomsen, MPT, PRC, Dan Houglum, MSPT, ATC/L,PRC, Jean Masse, PT,OCS, ATC, PRC, and Lisa Mangino, PT, DPT, PCS, C/NDT, PRC for your integrative presentations and ongoing interaction. It was one of my favorite Advanced Integration courses that I have ever been a part of, or have given. Hopefully, if you haven’t been to one of these in recent years, you will consider coming in the next few.  Reach out and talk to someone who has attended this year’s AI course; and I believe you will be encouraged to attend or re-attend, regardless where you are in your PRI moments of time.

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ADVANCED INTEGRATION 2021