As children, we tend to use both sides of our bodies much more easily compared to when we’re adults. As we age, we gradually start to favor one side of the body, forming muscular patterns as we repeatedly strengthen our dominant side. The result is that over time — when we do this over, and over, and over again — our learned muscle patterns wind up affecting our posture and how our body functions, especially how we breath and move.

The goal of postural restoration (or PR), according to Dr. Skip George, D.C, a Certified Chiropractic Sports Practitioner (CCSP), Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and Postural Restoration Certified (PRC) Practitioner, is to “improve bodily functions and perform at a higher level, both in our younger years and in our eighties or beyond. Postural restoration is really a treatment approach for all ages and abilities.”

In 2014, Dr. George was the first chiropractic doctor to become Postural Restoration Certified (PRC) with the Postural Restoration Institute® (PRI). He was also invited to join the PRI teaching faculty in 2015 and teaches a course for the institute called “Postural Respiration.”

In his opinion, the trick to postural restoration treatments is figuring out which dominant or overused muscles in the body need to be” turned off” or “inhibited”, and which muscles that are underused need to be “turned on” or “facilitated.” Addressing dysfunctional muscle patterns that are driven by the nervous system can allow someone to ultimately live a more balanced life.

Michael Cantrell, who holds a Masters in Physical Therapy and is also certified through PRI and a senior faculty member for PRI, teaches several primary and advanced courses for the faculty and mentors other faculty members. He explains that postural rehabilitation is really about gaining self-awareness regarding your own body, learning to become your own “realignment specialist.”

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