In this episode of the Postural Restoration Podcast I am joined by Cody Gillis, DPT, PRC, CSCS. Cody grew up in Boston, MA and earned his DPT from Northeastern University in 2017. It was during his time at Northeastern that he was introduced to PRI by the Strength and Performance staff their who had utilized various positional activities with their athletes. During this explorative track as a 3rd year DPT student Cody was pursuing his Strength & Conditioning certification and spending time with the performance team there. Cody admits to being skeptical at first regarding what he saw but wanted to learn more. During his two required 6 months clinicals Cody gained experience in a local orthopedic setting, but it was during his second rotation that he truly immersed himself. Moving to Hawaii and spending time learning from Randy Fukuji and the clinical cases at Fukuji & Lum in Honolulu produced a desire to dig even deeper. Cody recalls a specific patient that impacted him early on, who had tried everything and been everywhere, but was coming to the clinic solely to work through the Right Sidelying – Left Adductor Pullback technique because that one technique did more for the patient than anything else had. Once Cody heard this he knew it was time to take his first course.

Almost immediately Cody was on a flight from Hawaii to New York for his first course, Postural Respiration. Over the following years Cody completed his additional coursework and became certified as part of the 2021 PRC Class. Out of all the coursework he has completed, Cody credits Impingement & Instability and the concepts therein, for providing him the link to a more neurological mindset which has shaped his practice ever since. After spending many years learning and treating at Fukuji & Lum in Hawaii, Cody’s desire to spend more one on one time with individual clients, led him to create Respire, initially as a personal training and coaching opportunity in his spare time. After getting married and moving back to the mainland Cody opened his Respire Physiotherapy doors, offering all encompassing care in Santa Barbara and Monterey California.

Cody has a strong interest in interdisciplinary care and has attended numerous conferences with other disciplines including joining the PRI community at past AAPMD meetings among others. Most recently Cody’s desire to understand and communicate with other disciplines, led him to undergo a PRI Mini Residency at the Hruska Clinic. We discuss his time here and what offering an integrative treatment plan looks like for him as he navigates building relationships with other professionals and offering patients holistic care via those relationships. Cody has a passion for being on, in, or near the water and he looks forward to working with more individuals in the surfing community as well as pursuing more knowledge and the autonomic regulation required of the sport of Free Diving and those who do it.

In this episode of the Postural Restoration podcast i am joined by Michael Pedersen, DPT, PTA, PRC. Michael started his clinical career after earning his associates as a Physical Therapy Assistant and taking his first job with The Therapy Network in Newtown, VA. Michael was first introduced to Physical Therapy alongside his work with swimmers as a swim coach and the team of providers this exposed him to. Following his PTA program and starting to work in the clinic Michael was introduced to PRI early on in his career by Laurie Johnson, who was at the time his clinical director and the one who offered him a job. During this time our lives adapted to COVID and much of Michael’s course exposure to the science took place via the online coursework, as both he and Laurie immersed themselves in the concepts, taking dozens of courses within only a couple years. Michael credits the results he saw clinically for igniting his passion for the science of Postural Restoration.

Over the next several years Michael dove in to any content he could related to the implementation of PRI. Studying Neal Hallinan YouTube videos, attending courses, and working to apply it in the clinic setting alongside Laurie. This eventually led him to apply for and earn his PRC credentialing as part of the PRC class of 2022, two years following his first course. Michael discusses the desire to implement PRI to the fullest within his scope of practice while at the same time continuing to dice deeper into thew science itself. Because of what he now knew and saw work successfully, for his patients in front of him, Michael realized that he desired to go back to school with the goal of becoming a Physical Therapist.

Around the time that Michael earned his PRC he applied and was accepted to South College in Knoxville, TN allowing him to take part in their hybrid DPT program. This allowed him the flexibility to complete schooling while only having to do so in person periodically. Following this program Michael had the opportunity to spend his last clinical rotation at the Hruska Clinic where he has spent the last 10 weeks. Michael credits his time in the clinic with helping him better understand when and how to integrate with other professionals and with the smaller things like technique implementation and making sure PRI objective testing is utilized to guide treatment. Michael and I discuss the importance of getting people upright, sooner rather than later, and one of his desires to help patients handle load better in an upright position whether under additional load or just managing gravity on a day to day basis.

Michael has a unique experience having been exposed to PRI so early in his career and also having great mentorship around him throughout his journey, and now aims to build upon his experience utilizing PRI as a PTA as he returns to clinical care as a DPT. Michael has a strong interest in Brazilian Jujitsu, Swimming, and many other modalities such as dry needling and manual therapy as he utilizes them to aide in a PRI program. Michael’s goal is to now utilize everything he has learned from PT schooling, mentorship along the way and time within the PRI community to address the person in front of him for their unique needs, implementing PRI to its fullest whether individually or as part of an interdisciplinary team.

In this episode of the Postural Restoration Podcast I am joined by Betsy Baker-Bold who resides in Everett, WA. Betsy was pivotal in bringing PRI to the pacific northwest alongside her own journey.  Betsy took her first course Myokinematic Restoration in 2010 when her employer at the time, Olympic Physical Therapy was hosting. Coming from a heavily manual based educational background Betsy and her colleagues were introduce to this new neurological perspective and left with the question of what to do with it. Betsy recalls these struggles from a clinical perspective of not only exploring asymmetry as a whole but then translating it with the colleagues around her to apply it to approaches they were already utilizing. Betsy played a role in our return to WA and continuing to host courses there, as she was hungry for more and saw this as a missing link in her skill set.

Betsy has always considered a bigger picture, holistic approach and saw a way for that to be done through a PRI lens. Following some changes within this outpatient clinic, Betsy started her sole practice “Bold Performance Solutions” in 2018 in an attempt to offer an integrated approach to address positional, neurological, repatterning in a one on one manner. For her this includes identifying the needs of the person in front of her, and helping them identify themselves and their own needs. Often including things like lifestyle changes to illicit long term change. Betsy has incorporated her training as a health coach into the lives of her patients by empowering not only the way individuals view themselves, but in turn their sense of self through positive guidance, and incorporation of PRI positional activities to increase ones awareness of their place in space.

Betsy has a storied history with downhill skiing and from a young age coached and trained others in this sport. She not only has a passion for the sport itself, spending as much time on the mountainside as possible but also applying the concepts of respiration, alternation and position to this activity with those she trains. Over the decades Betsy has worked with all levels of skiers including time as the Physical Therapist for the U.S. Ski team and Austrian national team as well as other high level athletes. We discuss the differences in applying PRI with this population vs. those who may be just trying to sense things for the first time. Betsy discusses her approach in helping anyone along this spectrum of performance be able to sense themselves better via control of their positioning and regulation of respiration. Often finding that whether its a general population patient or a performance athlete, everyone will benefit from “stacking” a thorax over a pelvis and being able to sense themselves on the ground and in the space around them. The difference being in the appropriate time to make these changes to someones system in front of you, without disturbing their reliance on previously patterned performance.

Through her lifestyle and health coaching, sensory integration, and journey alongside Postural Restoration as it has evolved, Betsy’s perspective is one we can all learn from. She not only helps those she works with, but has lived these concepts and gone through her own journey finding a renewed sense of self within the world around her. Providing us all with tremendous insight into incorporating PRI concepts in our lives and through a unique passion and strong history alongside those who incorporate it on skis.

In this episode of the Postural Restoration podcast I am joined by Yoshi Mitsuyama, MS, ATC/L, PES, PRT  who currently resides in Nashville, TN. Yoshi started his athletic training career in Rolla, Missouri after graduating from Northern Colorado. While working as a collegiate athletic trainer in Rolla he had the opportunity to intern with Sporting KC and step into the world of professional soccer. It was here that Yoshi was introduced to PRI concepts from Kentaro Ishii who was working there at the time. Yoshi discusses seeing strange activities being performed early on in his internship and became interested in the reasoning behind the techniques he saw being performed. After being introduced to the science of PRI Yoshi signed up for all three primary courses at the same time, completing them in 3 months over the summer. Yoshi discusses his early years of implementing PRI and having a new tool to provide individualized programming.
After several years implementing PRI within collegiate and professional settings in MO, Yoshi earned his PRT in 2018. Shortly after, he accepted an opportunity to move back to Colorado and accept a position with the Colorado Rapids. Building on his experience in MO, he was now able to provide one on one attention to professional soccer athletes while working alongside performance teams and other professionals who were apart of these athletes lives. Yoshi discusses the challenges of implementing a new approach within this team setting, and making sure that others involved were complimenting the PRI programming that these athletes were utilizing. One of the biggest aspects of bridging the gap between the performance side and “rehab” team, along with the athletes individual involvement, was determining what factors outside of their sport were affecting their performance. While performing at a high level is done day in and day out, the activities that are attempted outside of sport such as driving, sitting, walking etc. often cause tension, or autonomic tone, until addressed.
Yoshi has also spent time clinically working alongside PRC Lisa Kelly, and through their partnership of “Tri-Planar Movement Therapies” he was able to see and implement PRI within a more clinical setting along with a totally new client population. This time together allowed Yoshi to gain appreciation for ongoing vestibular, dysautonomic issues that not only were these clinical patients experiencing but also the athletes alike. We discuss what some of the symptoms are that these populations are dealing with whether from concussions, orthostatic issues, past traumas or the umbrella term of dysautonomia.
Since his time in CO, Yoshi has since moved to Nashville initially working with Nashville, FC and now working as a private consultant within his community. This has presented him with yet another population of people seeking out PRI treatment and he has began working alongside Erika Young (voice coach) to help singers gain control of their voice via PRI concepts of position, respiration and retraining their systems to allow proper pressure regulation for the production of sound. Throughout these diverse populations Yoshi has been a part of, We discuss how all of these cases have similar needs when it comes to ground sense, breathing mechanics and sense of ones self, whether kicking a soccer ball, singing on stage, or just trying to get out of bed. Yoshi will be presenting a live case study alongside Torin Berge as part of the 2025 PRI Interdisciplinary Studies Summit in April.

In this episode of the Postural Restoration podcast I welcome Deanna Elliott who practices from her private outpatient clinic, Centered PT & Wellness in Grants Pass, OR. Deanna focuses her practice primarily spending time helping pregnant mothers through their journey of pregnancy, functional medicine, and beyond. From an early age she knew she wanted to help people feel better through healthcare, but through a personal ACL injury was introduced to Physical Therapy. She later graduated with her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Western University of Health Sciences in 2011. Before even starting her career she knew a bigger picture, holistic approach was her goal.

Deanna started her early career in Wyoming within numerous settings. She experienced home health, skilled nursing, neuro rehab, school setting and outpatient care during her early years in the field. The confines of these settings quickly made her realize she wanted more. Around this time she experienced her first pregnancy taking on whole body changes for the first time. The changes she experienced and the lack of answers available from traditional medicine led to further frustration. One question to her doctor in particular (“when am I going to Poop normal again”) was the tipping point for her to further explore alternative ways to recover.

Upon googling “Pelvic Biomechanics” Deanna found PRI and shortly after took her first course in 2016. In her words, “this was it!” she couldn’t believe that a systematic approach with “answers” to questions she had, already existed. This holistic approach among other Functional Medicine seminars she had attended led her to start her own practice the way she wanted to. In 2017 she started Centered PT & Wellness in order to do just that. At the same time she was quickly progressing through her PRI journey and in 2020 completed her PRC. She credits this process for a change in her perspective and treatment approach, looking at each person individually, uniquely and differently, every time you see them.

Based on her own experiences through multiple pregnancies she knew she wanted to help other moms experience better pregnancies and post-partum experiences. She explains that less is often more with any population but especially moms experiencing pregnancy. Focusing her treatment on starting with the basics, breathing, daily living, and most importantly remaining grounded. Whether taking someone through birthing preparation for a better labor, or helping them develop a individual post-partum plan, Deanna focuses her attention on their ability to maintain ground sense for pelvic positioning, respiration, and daily life.

Deanna doesn’t stop at the diaphragms. Her treatment approach also focuses on the functional side of digestion, gut health, vagal tone, autonomics and the daily experiences that her patients deal with. Alongside reeducation for daily living, Deanna uses tools like the GI Map to test for microbial health, Genetic or hormonal deficiencies, such as leaky guts, methylation, mutations, organ health, inflammation, nutrition and other mapping. Deanna often requires her patients to agree to a “journey” with her through multiple tests and re-tests if she is going to work with them, as she believes all of it needs to be addressed individually within the same program for every patient.

Deanna has many resources such as guides for birthing, post partum recovery, breech babies, and “busy moms” in order to balance their body alongside the journey of growing a baby. Check out her Find a Provider page for more!

In this episode of the Postural Restoration Podcast I am joined by Frank Mallon, PT, DPT, PRC. Frank grew up in the Philadelphia area and attended Physical Therapy school at Arcadia University. Although he has had many unique experiences in his home state he has remained there ever since. One of the biggest influences on his early career was the work of Shirley Sahrmann. In his first clinical setting, alongside one of his earliest mentors, Carl Mangione, they were able to implement these concepts with their patients and also share them in the university settings to others interested. Franks first years as a PT in this setting allowed him to explore other schools of thought that otherwise had not been introduced throughout his schooling.

Through this relationship, Frank was first introduced to PRI coursework and the science as a whole. In 2013 he took his first course, Pelvis Restoration, with Jennifer Poulin. After implementing what he had learned and seeing enough change within his patient population he knew additional coursework was merited. Over the next several years Frank attended many PRI courses, traveling from city to city to immerse himself more.

Two years from his first course exposure Frank achieved his Postural Restoration Certified (PRC) credential with the intent of providing a true form of PRI to his patients no matter what setting he may be in. Eventually finding himself directing various programs in the hospital setting he became more limited in the amount of freedom he had to incorporate all PRI aspects into his patient care. However overtime in this role he was able to introduce the science to his patients and other providers within this orthopedic hospital setting.

Like many within our community, Frank at one point needed integrative care for himself, and found himself seeking that out through the PRIME Program here in Lincoln. This experience solidified his desire to be able to offer similar services in his area of Philadelphia. Over time Frank began building an Integrative team of many varying professionals within the fields of dentistry, optometry, and other modalities to begin building a network of integrative care. This style of interdisciplinary care, would eventually lead him to start a private practice to be able to offer services and incorporate integrative care in a more meaningful way.

Frank has since built Renaissance Physical Therapy & Wellness into a practice that allows him to do just that. Incorporating PRI with every client and working closely with multiple disciplines to address dysfunctions across many systems as a holistic team. Renaissance Physical Therapy is available in 5 locations around the Philly metro, and beyond offering his clinical services, Frank stays very active in the community by educating others on the role they too can have as part of a team approach to neurological repatterning.

In this episode we discuss some of the challenges that providers may face when first learning to implement the science of Postural Restoration, and the effort it takes to build relationships with integrative professionals in your own community while appreciating the power of doing so. PRI communities are not formed over night and Franks journey is a testament to the commitment and dedication required to be able to offer a truly integrative approach to those in your own communities.

In this episode of the Postural Restoration Podcast I am joined by Jason Miller, PT, MS, CSCS, PRC. Jason graduated from Ithaca College in 1999 and started his career as a Physical Therapist in NY state working with individuals with developmental disabilities. In 2000, he moved to Missoula, MT and began a 20-year career in the outpatient orthopedic setting. After a decade of work in this setting Jason was first introduced to the science of PRI by a colleague, Kevin Vogelzang. Jason has always been fascinated by biomechanics and in 2011 took his first PRI course which was the catalyst for a paradigm shift in his approach to physical medicine.

Jason discusses his early years of integrating PRI into an orthopedic setting while being on a PRI island. He discusses the difficulties of applying PRI on your own, while appreciating the baby steps along the way. Some of his earliest success was achieved by selecting the appropriate clientele to introduce a new approach to. By starting with the right client, his early integration of repositioning had much better success. We go on to discuss how general PRI treatment looked like for Jason in a large outpatient, post-op setting, and some of the limitations he faced as well as how they affected his desire to treat and integrate areas other than the site of post operative care.

In 2016, he joined the largest orthopedic practice in western Montana and later became the therapy department supervisor.  He provided numerous in-services and had many discussions with his fellow therapists and AT’s as well as the MD’s and PA’s we worked with.  He has never forgotten the challenge of understanding and applying PRI from an orthopedic mindset and is passionate about helping smooth the transition for others.

In 2017, he received the designation of Postural Restoration Certified (PRC) as a result of advanced training, extraordinary interest and devotion to the science of postural adaptations, asymmetrical patterns, and the influence of polyarticular chains of muscles on the human body as defined by the Postural Restoration Institute ®.

Jason opened J Miller Physical Therapy in 2020 and currently practices in Missoula. Jason’s ongoing history and passion for teaching others was soon recognized by the Institute and in 2021 began training to teach Myokinematic Restoration which he has now instructed several times as he became a Faculty member of the Postural Restoration Institute. Jason is an avid outdoors man, skiing, fishing, hiking and enjoying all that the state of Montana has to offer!

Listen to Episode 33 HERE, or on your favorite podcast player!

In this episode of the Postural Restoration Podcast I am joined by Craig Depperschmidt, DPT, PRC. Craig grew up in Loveland, CO and finished his degree in Integrative Physiology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.  After spending a summer biking across the country, he headed to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he graduated with distinction from Northern Arizona University with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy.  From an early age, due to an active lifestyle, Craig became aware how a restriction or injury in one area of his body effected his whole system, and through multiple sports and associated injuries he learned the value of an integrated approach. In 2011 Craig attended the Advanced Integration course and for the first time in over a decade, was able to run without pain through his feet, shins, and low back. Craig credits this moment in his personal and professional journey, to a single technique, the Standing Supported Wall Reach, which for the first time allowed him to feel the effects of respiration in the thorax throughout his lower extremities. From this point on he was hooked.

In 2010 the clinic Craig work for at the time hosted both the Postural Respiration and Myokinematic Restoration courses and this exposure provided a foundation for the rest of Craig’s PRI journey. One particular statement regarding the observations of a Left AIC pattern, pushed Craig to prove it within his own clinical setting, and from there his love for the PRI primary object tests was born. From these first two courses Craig has since aimed to perform the associated tests with every patient who came through his door. This A-B-A experimental design of performing the tests, followed by technique intervention and finally re-testing, became standard for Craig and is something he is still passionate about as a provider, mentor, and faculty member today.

Craig and I go on to discuss how he uses a PRI approach within his population of clientele, primarily consisting of endurance athletes and weekend warriors. Craig’s own experiences as a triathlete, endurance runner and cyclist allow him to connect with his patients on a personal level. We go on to discuss how to appropriately introduce the concepts of sensory integration and positional education within this population and some of the ways Craig helps his patients make sense of themselves, particularly in the environments and spaces that they may not train or perform in. Craig is also Bikefit trained and uses his passion and knowledge to integrate PRI into cycling.

Craig became a PRC provider in 2012 and through attending PRI courses met his current colleague Brian Benjamin, DPT, PRC. Brian and Craig would go on to create ProActive PT in Fort Collins, CO. Today they are surrounded by an integrative team with the opportunity to mentor not only those interested in PT schooling but also the general public through several yearly events within their community. Outside of his community in Fort Collins, Craig is excited to be joining the PRI Faculty and will begin teaching Myokinematic Restoration in 2023. These communities of PRI practitioners and mentorship from faculty and others, have allowed Craig to share his passions with others and we are so excited for him to be able to share them with all of you!

In this episode of the Postural Restoration Podcast I am joined by Brad Gilden, who graduated with a Masters of Science from New York Medical College in 2000 and a Clinical Doctorate in upper quarter and hand therapy, from Drexel University in 2004. Since his schooling Brad has completed several certifications including the completion of  the Functional Manual Therapy training and Fellowship from the Institute of Physical Art (IPA), alongside many others. Early on in his career Brad knew he wanted more out of his role as a provider, than the 15 minutes he was being allotted per patient. This journey led him to multiple rehab settings dealing with both acute and chronic pain presentations, neurological disorders and amputees. This journey ultimately led Brad to start his private practice, Elite Health Services, in 2005. Allowing him to start incorporating more into his clinical practice working alongside Strength Trainers, Pilates Instructors and many other movement professionals as he built his model around this team approach.

 In 2010 he was introduced to Dr. Michael Gelb as a patient and felt the effects of dental integration first hand, for the first time. This experience opened Brads mind to the power of autonomic regulation via an oral appliance and he knew that many people patterns would be very challenging to dissociate without this missing piece of the puzzle. This experience opened the door to his conversations with dentists as a whole and his appreciation for their role. While realizing for the first time that dentists where not only open to collaboration with him in his role, but they were searching for it as well.

As both Brads integration with dentistry and his collaboration with Dr. Gelb grew, he was quickly surrounded by others searching for the same integration. This led him to Dr. Howard Hindin who together with Dr. Gelb, founded the American Academy of Physiologic Medicine and Dentistry (AAPMD). As their movement of collaboration together grew, Brad was given the opportunity to present at their second Annual Conference. Sharing the stage with people like Mariano Racobato, Roger Price, Jennifer Hobson, and Barry Raphael among many other well known speakers. It was after his presentation focused around the role of the diaphragm and its influence on the orofacial complex as a whole, that Heather Carr first introduced him to the work of Ron Hruska. Shortly after Brad took his first Postural Respiration course.

In 2016, Brad was given the opportunity to organize the PT Track of the Annual AAPMD conference and he knew that he needed to try and get both Ron and PRI as a whole involved. After a series of meetings Ron agreed to present for the first time as part of the 2017 collaboration cures convention. As a result of the series of courses and collaboration through PRI that Brad had completed, including mentorship alongside Ron working together in Manhattan, Brad became Postural Restoration Certified in 2020.

Brad and I discuss the history of our shared collaboration over the past several years. And specifically, his journey of integrating with the field of dentistry and the idea of “standing on the shoulder of giants, and passing their work onto the world”. To end our conversation Brad discusses how the evolution of the Physical Therapy track has grown, which this year will include Myofunctional Therapy and other therapists collaborating together in one place. Brad goes on to discuss this years AAPMD Collaboration Cures Convention on September 15-18th. For more information on this years meeting, the agenda and speaker line up, as well as a PT Track Discount I encourage you to visit the AAPMD Collaboration Cures page for more information.

In this episode of the Postural Restoration Podcast I am joined by Joan Hanson who is a Physical Therapist located in Sioux Falls, SD. Joan has been practicing physical therapy for 30 years and for most of those years has done so with Sanford Health Systems. As we navigate her career and how PRI has shaped and directed it, it is clear to see why Joan was awarded the PRI Directors Dedication Award this past April for her ongoing commitment to this science. In 1992, she earned her Master’s degree in Physical Therapy from the Mayo School of Health-Related Sciences in Rochester, MN. Joan started her private practice, Physical Therapy Solutions, in 1999 after several years in various outpatient settings.

Later that year, Joan was introduced to Protonics  and encouraged to take a course. Because of a prior knee injury, on the right side, Joan was selected as a model in this course and sensed what a left hamstring could do for her right sided knee pain for the first time. Joan discusses how this first encounter with asymmetry and using both sides of the body to treat it, shaped her practice from the beginning. In 2001 Joan took her first Myokinematic Restoration course and began applying the science with her patients. Over the following two decades Joan would go on to complete over 30 PRI courses, and discusses how this journey has directly shaped her clinical practice.

In 2008 Joan sold her practice to Sanford Health. This partnership has allowed her and her clinical staff to continue to use PRI  over the years. We discuss both the challenges and opportunities this partnership has provided as well as some of the people that were involved along the way. As she continued to run her practice under the lens of PRI based treatment, Joan has mentored and collaborated with many clinicians introducing asymmetrical concepts, breathing and positional sense along the way.

Although she had this community around her, the science was in its early years and the resources that exist today were not all always available. As a way to get more involved with the PRI community and other clinicians apart of it, Joan completed her PRC certification in 2005 as part of the second class. Joan goes on to discuss how this and other opportunities allowed her to stay connected to the science. Throughout the years Joan has taken advantage of nearly every opportunity available to ask questions, stay connected, and continue to learn through not only course offerings but also the many other resources that have since been created. We discuss how these resources, such as the PRIVY platform, PRI Google group, and many trips to Lincoln have helped Joan answer her questions over the years. Early on Joan recalls taking advantage of one-on-one clinical time spent alongside Ron Hruska, seeing first hand how each repositioning activity was meant to be performed and who they were meant for.

As Joan continued to incorporate PRI activities with her patients, she discusses the importance of relying on the tests to confirm ones ability to alternate, breathe and sense both sides of their bodies. These basic concepts are often the start point of her treatment and we discuss the importance of “the process” and how often times these concepts can be overlooked by trying to progress through integration of systems too quickly, or with patients that may not need integration of multiple systems. Throughout the years Joan has not only desired to learn and grow with this science individually, but has always attempted to share and help those around her learn and utilize it as well.  This has increased her interest in things like dance, sleep, audiology, boxing, and many others as she integrates PRI into her everyday life.

In this episode of the Postural Restoration Podcast I welcome Torin Berge, PT, MPT, PRC who practices at the Hruska Clinic and plays a vital role within the PRIME Program. Growing up Torin spent countless hours in a Pediatric PT setting with his brother who diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy was in and out of therapy frequently. It was during this time that his love for the profession grew. Torin graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1999 with his Masters in Physical Therapy. Torin was also an avid swimmer and swam throughout college and his entire childhood. Although he appreciates the foundation received in schooling he acknowledges that he was introduced to many "whats" but never really received the "whys" behind the symptoms or diagnosis studied.

To start his career Torin provided care across pediatric clinics, and across both outpatient and acute hospital settings, but he quickly realized there had to be something more, a piece still missing. Torin was led to the PRI coursework through the community in Souix City, including Jane Stanley who got him to his first Protonics course. During which he heard someone discussing the relationship between the lower extremities and the cervical spine for the first time. Even though much of the science was still new at the time, Torin knew that there would be more to come, and slowly the "whys" behind all of his questions started being addressed. During these early years of coursework Torin began incorporating the science within his practice, but like many, continued to hit roadblocks along the way. The inability to incorporate PRI into his clinical setting helped him make the decision to look elsewhere.

In 2011, Torin joined the Hruska Clinic in Lincoln, Nebraska and has been growing ever since. Shortly after accepting this position and moving his family, Torin became credentialed as part of the 2012 PRC Class. The timing of Torin’s presence here coincided with a time period of tremendous growth within the Integration of PRI concepts. Not only was he surrounded with great colleagues who had been using PRI for decades, but he was now also a part of integrating with Optometrists, Dentists and Podiatrists on a regular basis. PRI Vision underwent its foundational years with his involvement, and the incorporation of dental integration was being explored like never before. These were the early days of integration, "pre-PRIME", and the level of exploration, integration, and evolving treatments, were at an all time high.

As time went on, similar patterns of patient care became apparent. Patients came from international places because no other provider could find the "why" behind their "what" problem. The pieces of these patients’ puzzles were not being put together, and even when each piece of dysfunction had been appropriately managed, they still failed to manage the  integration long term. Out of these years, working alongside Ron Hruska and the entire integrative team, the Postural Restoration Institute Multidisciplinary Engagement (PRIME) Program was founded. It too continued to evolve over the years and has remained a focal point of the PRI community when looking for models of integrative care. Today Torin and his team work not only with extremely hard to manage cases, but also with other PRI Providers, to provide guidance, support and treatment for patients and their providers they may already be working with. Through PRIME the pieces of the Podal, Occlusal, Visual and multiple other systems are put together and continuously managed by Torin and his colleagues, "The Integrators".

Listen to Episode 29 HERE.