Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Tim Speicher. Them and their team share their story with us below:
From our start in 2008 as the Positional Release Therapy Institute® (PRT-i), we have grown from delivering PRT instruction and certification to clinicians to delivering the advanced therapies we teach and research to the general public at our clinic. Due to our growth, Elevated Performance and Rehabilitation evolved from PRTi ® to become a premier provider of one-on-one individualized sports performance enhancement and rehabilitation in the South Odgen, UT region.
We continue to teach Positional Release Therapy® globally to health care practitioners and students as well as certify them in the therapy. Students can take courses both online and now post COVID, in person. During the past 20 years, Dr. Speicher has advanced the practice of Positional Release Therapy® in both clinical practice and through his research. Dr. Speicher’s book, Clinical Guide to Positional Release Therapy®, has been published internationally and has been translated into Chinese/Mandarin.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The struggles have been many, from starting a business from the ground up, gaining financing/funding, to weathering economic downturns, recessions, pandemics, and overall challenging economic times. Another challenge that is ongoing is bringing PRT® (positional release therapy) to the public therapy market. PRT®, while well known in therapy circles as one of the strongest evidenced based manual therapies known, is not well known by the public. Therefore, most patients are unaware of what PRT® can do for them or the 75 years of research behind this amazing therapy.
As you know, we’re big fans of Positional Release Therapy Institute ® and Elevated Performance and Rehabilitation. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Positional Release Therapy® (PRT) is one of the core osteopathic therapies all patients receive at Elevated Performance and Rehabilitation. PRT® unlocks tissues and joints decreasing pain and facilitates them to heal and strengthen, often up to 70-100% on the first treatment. Essentially, PRT® is the opposite of stretching. Much like unkinking a knot from a chain necklace, PRT® works in the same fashion; tissues are pushed together, twisted, compressed, and manipulated to take tension off “neurological knots.” The therapy is relatively pain-free and is suited for all ages and most painful conditions.
The primary goal of PRT® is to facilitate a healing environment where the body can self-correct or heal itself through correcting musculoskeletal and neurological imbalances. By doing so, pain is reduced, strength and flexibility improved, and tissue regeneration and repair occur. However, one therapy or one tool does not always address all conditions or projects, therefore, multiple therapies are often integrated into a patients’ treatment plan to optimize the patients healing and performance not only by one clinician but often by our entire team of therapists, personal trainers, and physicians. Dr. Speicher has advanced his PRT® therapy and performance techniques through his clinical practice and research, which is conducted both at Elevated and around the Globe. Current advances in both PRT® and therapies that complement this groundbreaking therapy approach are integrated into a full-body therapy personalized comprehensive treatment plan to address your condition or performance goals.
Osteopathic therapies primarily involve the use of the hands to manipulate tissues. According to Dr. Speicher’s Mechanical Coupling Theory (2006), though the application of PRT®, therapists, and patients use their hands to unkink the tissues muscle fibers by decreasing the neural activation of them by both mechanically shortening them and also by changing the neurochemical bonding formed due to pain and inflammation. Further, the interruption of the neural signal created by pain and inflammation either acute or chronic decreases neural activation at the spinal cord, brain stem and at the local tissue level, which both decrease pain and increase function of the tissues. Decreasing the sympathetic drive or gain of the neurologic system over time helps to sustain a normal tissue length, thereby eliminating or decreasing pain permanently.
PRT® is often only one part of the treatment process that must be implemented. Once a tissue is released and pain is eliminated, it must often be restored or rehabilitated and then the new tissue length sustained. When tissues are painful, contracted, or inflamed, they weaken and lose size, atrophy. The tissue spasm not only causes pain but inside the twisted tissue are blood vessels and nerves that also become compressed, decreasing blood flow and neural activation, which decreases tissue health.
With the complexity of this process in mind, a personal one-on-one comprehensive therapy plan is designed to meet your individual therapy and performance-based goals.
One of the most utilized therapy approaches we utilize at Elevated and one which we teach to clinicians is the Wheelhouse Protocol©. The Wheelhouse Protocol© (Pat. Pending) is a non-painful integrative manual therapy treatment approach that resolves low back pain typically within 1-3 treatment sessions. The therapy protocol was designed by Dr. Speicher based on 25 years of research and clinical practice and encompasses PRT®, therapeutic ultrasound, joint mobilizations, muscle energy, and corrective exercise. Typically, in 97% of patients, low back pain resolves within one to three weeks.
Ultimately, the drive behind all we do at Elevated and through the Positional Release Therapy Institute ® (PRT-i) is to alleviate the suffering of others through our direct practice at Elevated but also through teaching others how to do what we do at Elevated. The drive to do so has been born out of the desire to keep patients off opiods. Chronic low back pain is the primary reason individuals are prescribed opiates and many become addicted to them. Unfortunately, some die because of them. Therefore, the Wheelhouse Protocol© and many other therapies developed by Dr. Speicher and his team are intended to curb the opiod epidemic, alleviate suffering from injury and chronic illness and ultimately, save lives.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
When I got my first job at age 6–which made me feel I could help my mom with the family finances.
Pricing:
- We charge $125 per hour for therapy at Elevated and offer many therapy packages
- We provide shockwave therapy at $150 per session
- We provide full-body cyrotherapy and infrared sauna therapy at $39 per session
- Course prices in PRT® vary per course from free online courses/webinars to $549 for a full weekend of course instruction in PRT®
Contact Info:
- Website: https://elevatedperformanceandrehabilitation.com/ and https://prt-i.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prt_institute/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElevatedPerformanceandRehab/ and https://www.facebook.com/PositionalReleaseTherapyInstitute
- Twitter: @speichertim
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOZjEuTrrUck-LX439AcF6w AND https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsMpOEXVCeR8KCEK7BOt40QAKklImw9ai
