“My left foot hurts, my left calf, right hip, left lower back, right shoulder and neck on both sides…” 

“That makes sense” 

That makes sense. I can’t tell you how relieved I felt hearing those words. As I’m sure most people can relate, over time I have accumulated a laundry list of body parts that feel uncomfortable or painful on a daily basis. I have suspected for a while that there are patterns to the pain, but I haven’t been able to figure out what they are. And while I have some especially good health practitioners on my side, they tend to focus on individual areas of pain and I am ready to look at the big picture. 

Enter Jarrett Kolich and PRI (Postural Restoration Institute). Jarrett is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and a PRT, which stands for Postural Restoration Trained. We trained at the same gym several years ago and reconnected recently through a mutual friend. He believes that my litany of complaints are all related and solvable with the PRI training system. Within one session of working with him I started feeling a positive difference in my body. 

Every week I train with Jarrett for one hour (this is my first time having my own “official” personal trainer…it’s amazing), and leave with exercises to do in a daily home routine. The style of training feels like a combination of physical therapy, strength training, and exercises I learned a while back from a functional neurologist. These exercises address aspects such as breathing, posture, eye coordination, jaw alignment, and lead into more specific strength training. Every week, Jarrett and I geek out over how cool this training is, how it seems to make everything “make sense” and get excited over the prospect of sharing it with more people. While the result of all this knowledge seems simple, the path of understanding is not. So, I asked Jarrett to help write this article by answering a few questions. We made it as simple as we could: 

First and foremost, what is The Postural Restoration Institute (PRI)? 

“The Postural Restoration Institute studies our body’s natural asymmetrical system and how this imbalanced system keeps itself in check.  When there is system disuse or dominant overuse, negative postural adaptations arise and PRI has created movement modalities to treat these.  

For example, our torso has a liver on the lower right side and is balanced by the heart on the upper left side.  These organs manipulate air displacement within each lung differently, but if we move in the cross-diagonal pattern we’re designed to (opposite arm and leg move together) we can better control this. We can also direct our center of mass more efficiently.” 

In other words, since our bodies are asymmetrical by design, strengthening certain movement patterns can help reduce pain and discomfort that builds up as a result of further strengthening the imbalances. Still with me? 

Next question: What conditions and/or situations respond best to this kind of work?

“Musculoskeletal (itis’, syndromes), joint conditions (compression, instability, laxity) and structural weakness conditions respond well to this type of work.” 

In other words, most of the aches and pains that most of us feel on a regular basis.

And last, but not least:  Why does traditional training/physical therapy sometimes fall short? And how does PRI behave differently?

“In my experience so far as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, PRI has helped me look at the body holistically in a new way. By having a better understanding that the neurological, respiratory, circulatory, muscular and vision systems are not the same on each side of the body has helped me dive deeper into finding the root cause of a client’s discomfort, such as lack of hip internal rotation, back pain, shortness of breath, neck tightness…to name a few. PRI delves a couple layers deeper than what I have learned so far or experienced in traditional protocols.”

In other words, Strength & Conditioning gave Jarrett (and myself) a lot of knowledge about training the musculoskeletal system. PRI expands on this and looks at the entire body and how all of the systems work together. 

The science backing this system is very complex. I personally learn and understand best through experience, so Jarrett and I made a video of an exercise you can try at home and experience a taste of PRI for yourself! Grab dumbbells and a yoga mat, if you have them (totally doable without them, too), a thick book, and a little bit of space. 

Did you try it? Did you feel a difference side to side? Drop a comment down below and let us know how it went! 

It is safe to say that I am a huge fan of the work Jarrett is doing, the knowledge he is sharing,  and the changes that I have experienced in my own body since training with him. If you want to learn more, check out the PRI website here and Jarrett’s instagram page here. 

Happy Learning! 

Originally posted March 15, 2021