We are just a couple weeks away from the Postural Restoration Trained™(PRT) application deadline for summer testing. PRT summer testing is available once every 3 years to help accomodate Athletic Trainers and Strength and Conditioning Coaches who have expressed an interest in completing the PRT credentialing program, but due to the schedule of the teams that they work with, are unable to get away to attend the annual testing date in January.

PRT applications for the summer testing date are due on March 15th, and testing will take place on July 17-18th at the Postural Restoration Institute in Lincoln, Nebraska. Please note that there will not be an Impingement & Instability course offered in conjunction with this testing date, therefore all applicants will need to take this required course elsewhere prior to testing.  

Postural Restoration Trained (PRT) is a credential available to Athletic Trainers (with Certification through the BOC), Athletic Therapists (with Certification through the CATA), Strength and Conditioning Coaches (with CSCS Certification through the NSCA or SCCC Certification through the CSCCa, Certified Special Population Specialist (with CSPS Certification through the NSCA and completion of a Bachelor's degree or higher degree), and Exercise Physiologists (with Certification through the ACSM). For more information on the course requirements and to download the application, CLICK HERE!

If you are planning to apply for PRT, and have any questions, please email me!

 PRI Integration for Pilates kicked off first course of 2020 at its home base at Pilates Central in Wilmette, IL with fantastic group of Pilates teachers, PT’s, massage therapists, a chiropractor and other fitness professionals. We started the day with introductions and then introduced PRI and Pilates principles. There so many commonalities with Postural Restoration and Pilates, especially that Joseph Pilates and Ron Hruska were both 50 years ahead of their time.

Sarah Petrich introduced the concepts of ZOA and the asymmetrical human body and soon we were all fully exhaling to inflate purple balloons. Day one morning ended with a mat and breathing lab.

I then introduced the supine reformer gait integration assessment test followed by lab so everyone had a chance to observe and experience the tests. Sarah got us all dancing the hula and salsa to illustrate triplanar motion.

Followed by a conversation in which I covered quadruped abdominal assessment and the sidelying stance tests which drive the programming labs. Speaking of driving, Sarah taught us all how to get in the left lane and make legal right turns while discussing lateralized gait. Attendees practiced hand and foot references to “layer “ on to the “choreography “.

So many wonderful attendees to mention: shout out to Chad Moreau, PRC and Whitney from Southern California for braving the Chicago winter; Wanda, who works with wounded warriors in Atlanta and Beth from Houston. Honored that Donna Olivero PT PRC was there to learn how to incorporate more Pilates into her chronic pain practice, especially because she completes the trio of Donna’s in the PRC class of 2012. Thank you to Stephanie (her 3rd PRI Pilates course!) Holly, Petra and Amanda from corepilates Chicago who have embraced PRI Pilates at their studio. Last but not least thank you to my wonderful instructors , Elizabeth, Charmaine, Deb, and Laura for their help in lab, for asking great questions and for help getting the studio back together for Monday morning Pilates.

“Thanks for hosting such a wonderful class! It gave me so much inspiration to continue down the PRI path and incorporate more Pilates into my practice”  -Karolyn

Pasadena Physical Therapy was the location of last weekend's Cervical Revolution. Locatelli Rao, P.T. hosted this course and it is always a pleasure to share time and knowledge with "Loc" on this PRI journey. I first met Loc two years ago in L.A. when I taught Postural Respiration and the questions he was asking then and now are some of the best. What is really gratifying is when a student can take a complex subject, like Cervical Rev, and break it down into component parts to provide a simple, sequential and detailed description of the concepts of the course. This has been a goal in Cervical Revolution to have students take a course and "get" the primary concepts with motivation to go back into the course manual and absorb more completely the material. Application on Monday morning means just getting the most important concepts, start to practice examinations of the cervical spine/neck, know the basics of what they mean and then experiment and provide PRI techniques! Yes PRI courses make our brains hurt a little as most students will attest while their enthusiasm for more expands with their craniums! One of the most powerful PRI techniques and taught in this course is the Active Left Lateral Pterygoid in Protrusion. After testing a student in lab with bi-lateral positive findings, this technique with just a few breathes demonstrated how powerful inhibiting a Right TMCC can be with a left lateral pterygoid. Not only was the R TMCC inhibited, but so were the BC and AIC chains bilaterally.

Follow up recommendations included Standing Cervical Cranial Repositioning with a Supine Active Sacro-Spheno Flexion which were demonstrated in lab with other students all producing immediate neutrality.  A manual technique was provided on another student in lab called the Frontal Occipital Hold who was also bilaterally positive in testing. After this technique, he was neutral upon testing. That was astounding to all, especially this instructor! This course is really about autonomics and reflexive oscillatory function of a neck that has to be free to turn. Cervical Revolution is so fun to teach because of the power in it's application just like all the courses in PRI. Big Shout Out to Chad Moreau, D.C., CCSP, PRC for being our lab assistant again. Your support and presence always brings a positive force to the room. Thanks again Loc for you support, questions, restates, hosting and always expanding your knowledge. 

Beautiful weekend in Oakland California talking PRI for the frail, the immobile and the chronic with a super group of medical professionals at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. A huge thanks to our host site coordinator Shaun Buchanan for thinking of everything and making sure we had a wonderful weekend. Your hosting was amazing Shaun. Also thank you to Tim Dempsey, CSCS, CPT, PRT who assisting me this weekend as a lab instructor and made sure the group had a good experience.

 The night before the course was fun and relaxing for me because I got to attend a Golden State Warriors basketball game in the new Chase Center arena. I have been to several games in the historic Oracle Arena in Oakland, but getting to attend a game in their newly completed arena across the bay in San Francisco was an awesome experience. After the game, I picked up a souvenir that helped me teach the course the next day. It was a Matryoshka or nesting doll painted as one of my favorite players, Klay Thompson. Klay turned out to be great asset for giving the class context for rotational diaphragm performance, lumbopelvic rotation and contralateral respiratory rotation through the rib cage during transitional activities and gait. Who knew?

This PRI Integration for Geriatrics course does a great job assessing and making treatment recommendations for different aspects of the human gait cycle. The design of the Seated Gait Integration Test is to determine early to mid stance performance and the design of the Seated Eversion with Abduction Test is to determine late stance/pre-swing performance for the geriatric athlete. These components of upright performance are essential for dynamic upright balance activities, transfers in and out of the standing position and delivering efficient gait mechanics. Seeing the L AIC/R BC pattern in context with different components of gait allows the practitioner to make meaningful changes to gait deficiencies and upright balance and transfer problems. Preventing falls in these populations is by far the most meaningful thing you can do to preserve upright function.

Another powerful aspect of this course if the time spent on Functional Routines in the Home from both a patterned and a preferred standpoint. Thank you John Maynarich, OT for helping our class stay functionally minded throughout the course and for representing the profession of Occupational Therapy so well. You were right, this material is well designed for OT practitioners and should be an important part of all geriatric care. Our ability to make positive changes in daily functional routines really is the whole point, isn't it?

Lastly, I wanted to give a shout out to our 3 first-time course attendees in the class. Thank you Tom Borremeo, Christina Cherg and Fabrice Rockich. You guys were amazing. And thank you Carol Cahn, PT, PRC for personally bringing your friend and co-worker Tom to the course. As I said, you 3 newbies are VIPs from my perspective and it was an honor to cater the content of the presentation to your level of understanding as we went along. Thank you for being willing to ask questions and for the great class discussions you helped to generate. You literally are the reason the Affiliate program exists and we thank you for being there.