Episode 30: Joan Hanson, DPT, PRC, CFC

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.