Start your journey towards being a certified TheraTogs Fitter, Level 1

Posture and Torso Alignment for Pediatric Neuromotor Training (Lecture Component)

4.75 Hours — $79 — 60-Day Access

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Pediatric Therapist Alignment Re-Education

Our Posture and Torso Alignment for Pediatric Neuromotor Training on-demand online course features a review of relevant pediatric orthopedic issues and sciences pursuant to neuromotor re-education for posture and torso alignment, including skeletal modeling mechanisms and influences; the role of the somatosensory system in postural control acquisition and movement; fundamentals of S.A. Sahrmann’s muscle balance theory, and practice-related skills acquisition

This course is a prerequisite for CTF-1 Certified Fitter hands-on lab, and for the on-demand online course Pediatric In-Toeing and Out-Toeing Management for Neuromotor Training, and its subsequent CTF-2 Certified Fitter hands-on lab.

Enroll today to get the online lecture component under your belt. Then you’ll be ready when the certification labs hit the 2024 schedule!

Disclosure Statement: Beverly Cusick, PT, MS, NDT, COF, the author and principal owner of this course has equity ownership in Progressive Gaitways, LLC and TheraTogs, Inc. which develops and sells products related to this course.

Fabulous Course
The course, the content, presenting method, explanation, everything is so good. I am so thrilled to learn this new treatment strategy for kids. Thank you so much ma'am for inventing and sharing this brilliant technique with us. So much gratitude to you.
Well designed and easy to access content. Loved the concepts of trunk control and its importance as often less attention is paid to it after the child starts moving about. Discussion box on the side helps with posting questions and looking at previously asked queries.
I loved the course. It is brilliant and I wished I had gotten onto TheraTogs
systems system earlier.

Course Outcomes

Here’s the deal, once you’ve completed this on-demand course, you’ll able to

✔️ Name the primary benefit of antigravity righting reactions to body COM (weight) shifts in daily function.

✔️ Name the three planes of acquisition of antigravity muscle function and control in the neck and torso in sequential order.

✔️ Name the most fundamental component of motor development.

✔️ Relate postural alignment to somatosensory input from loaded joints and segments.

✔️ Describe the relationship between postural control and the acquisition and functional limb use.

✔️ Compare the status of sensory processing in typically developing children to that of children with hypotonia and cerebral palsy.

✔️ Describe the physiologic effects of massed practice of balance and movement skills on the developing musculoskeletal system. 

✔️ Explain Sahrmann’s attention to muscle recruitment strategies in the management of muscle contractures.

✔️ Explain Sahrmann’s focus on shortening the dominant muscles and using them in their shortened state before attempting to lengthen the shortened, dominant muscles.

✔️ Apply one principle from each of the sciences discussed in this program to the use of TheraTogs systems designed to improve functioning torso alignment in daily life.

I can do this. Count me in!
Stellar content

Ample Professional CEUs

In addition to offering a substantial investment in your professional development with Cusick-level content, we issue completion certificates automatically to those who complete all sessions, record 90% or better on all quizzes, and submit their online evaluation. 

PHYSICAL THERAPISTS: Upon course completion, you’ll earn a total of 4.75 contact hours which are accepted for PT continuing education credits in 40+ states via Redefine Health Education. For a list of states that accept these CEUs and information about obtaining them in those that do not, please visit Redefine Health Education's website. 

ORTHOTISTS/PROSTHETISTS: This on-demand online course earns you 4.75 Category I scientific credits through the American Board for Certification (ABC). Full participation in this program is required to be eligible for the full amount of credits approved, which means you need to watch the hour-long course, answer 15 quiz questions, get 90% correct to pass, and complete an evaluation form. 

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS AND OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANTS: Progressive GaitWays, LLC is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development. PD activity approval ID# 7689. This Distance Learning-Independent activity is offered for .475 CEUs at 4.75 contact hours. The content is at an intermediate learning level, in the OT Service Delivery and Foundational Knowledge categories. AOTA does not endorse specific course content, products, or clinical procedures.

Earn Your CEUs
A Peek Inside

Beginning with Postural Control Acquisition and Significance.

The moment you enroll in the Posture and Torso Alignment Course you gain 90-days' access to the content topics shown. From start to finish, Billi brings her experience, research, and discernment to the improvement of your practice.

Please note: this course is available on demand, and may be accessed at any time during your 90-day access period, which begins on the date you purchased the webinar, not the date you hit play.

Session 1: Postural Control Acquisition and Significance
— Welcome to the course!
— Introduction
— Foundations in Science: Postural Control Acquisition and Significance
— Building the Foundation
— Building Upon the Foundation
— Postural Control Deficit in Cerebral Palsy
— Significance of Trunk Control in Cerebral Palsy
— Session 1: Wrapping Up
— Session 1: Review Quiz


Session 2: Movement Systems Analysis (MSA)
— Bringing MSA to Neuromusculo-skeletal Management
— Muscle Imbalance in Children with Cerebral Palsy
— MSA-Based Treatment Principles
— Clinical Evidence of MSA-Based Interventions
— Session 2: Review Quiz

Session 3: Postural Assessments, Interventions, and Strategies
— Postural Assessments: Introduction
— Resting Posture: Prone
— Resting Posture: Supine
— Resting Posture: Sitting
— Resting Posture: Quadruped
— Resting Posture: Standing
— Assess and Address the Trunk First
— Session 3: Review Quiz


Session 4: TheraTogs Research & Ideas
— On TheraTogs Research
— TheraTogs Effects: Postural and Functioning Alignment
— TheraTogs Effects: Muscle Recruitment
— TheraTogs Effects: Lower Extremity Muscle Extensibility
— TheraTogs Effects: Sitting / Standing Balance
— TheraTogs Effects: Muscle Strength
— TheraTogs Effects: Motor Skills Acquisition
— Research: Closing Considerations
— Session 4: Review Quiz


Session 5: TheraTogs Properties and Product Care
— Product Contents, Properties, Limitations and Contraindications
— Routine Use Requirements
— Training Caregivers Towards Compliance
— Managing TheraTogs Effectively


Session 6: Molding and Fitting the Dragonfly TLSO
— The Dragonfly TLSO
— Sessions 5 and 6: Review Quiz


Session 7: Wrapping Up
— Wrapping Up
— What's Next…
— Course Evaluation: Pediatric Posture and Torso Alignment

Clear,concise and evidence based all through
Well designed and easy to access content. Loved the concepts of trunk control and its importance as often less attention is paid to it after the child starts moving about. Discussion box on the side helps with posting questions and looking at previously asked queries.
This course was great, not only for understanding the basics of using TheraTogs, but understanding postural control in general. Highly recommend.
Excellent review of postural control normal development and how use history can affect function positively or negatively. I learned new assessment tools, treatment ideas and how to apply TheraTogs for ongoing therapy at home. Such a valuable course in this day and age when direct treatment is not always possible.
Meet Your Instructor

Billi Cusick

Billi Cusick, PT, MS, NDT, COF/BOC, is an internationally known pediatric physical therapist whose specialty is the orthopedic development and orthotic management of children with cerebral palsy and other neuromotor deficits. 

She has been teaching these and related topics since 1978, including presentations by invitation for the APTA, AACPDM, AOPA, and AAOP and more than 460 full programs and workshops worldwide.

Billi received her BS in PT from Bouve College at Northeastern University in Boston, MA in 1972, and her MS in Clinical and College Teaching for Allied Health Professionals from the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1988. She is an Associate Professor for the Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions – Pediatrics Program – Provo, Utah (2006-present) and is NDT basic- and baby-trained.