What is GPR?

Global Postural Re-Education: It is a form of evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of pathologies that affect the Neuro-Musculo-Skeletal system.

Global Postural Re-Education is a manual therapy method applied by Kinesiologists-Physiotherapists, specialized in this practice through a training program present in more than twenty-five countries around the world. It consists of an innovative form of evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of pathologies that affect the Neuro-Musculoskeletal system (NME). It can be applied to two main objectives:

• Postural alterations.
• Painful pictures.

The method was developed in France in 1980 by physiotherapist Philippe Souchard, who is currently the director and academic head of RPG worldwide.

Who can benefit from it?

Due to the dosage and delicacy of the approach, RPG can be applied without contraindications to both children and adults who need to improve posture, the functioning of the body or relieve pain, both acute and chronic.

The versatility and therapeutic depth of the method, together with the possibility of adapting it to each person and their specific problem, makes RPG an effective tool in the management of complex problems that affect the Neuro-Musculoskeletal System.

The general objectives are to recover and gain muscular flexibility, modify the state of retraction of the myofascial system, free blocked or dysfunctional joints, eliminate pain and restore function, allowing each person to regain quality of life.

What does RPG consist of?

The RPG is to develop an individualized treatment strategy tailored to the needs of each person and their motor circumstances.

To do this, the professional performs an EVALUATION protocol *1 specific to the method that allows him to reach a hypothesis of causality and define the objectives of the treatment.

Then, by means of manual corrections, directed by the professional during the session, in the TREATMENT POSITIONS*2, those aspects identified and involved in the appearance and chronification of the problem are modified. In this way, a clinical change is sought, both in acute or chronic pain, as well as in postural or movement alterations.

*1 EVALUATION.

The evaluation in RPG consists of 4 stages:

• General Impression.
• Interrogation.
• Retractions Examination.
• Rebalancing.

These four steps have an increasing level of specificity, as a whole they allow to establish the individual and global character of the problem presented by each patient at the moment of the session. By means of the evaluation, the hypothesis of causality about the patient's condition is elaborated, the families of postures most necessary for the treatment are defined, and the corrections that need to be made during the treatment are defined.

The evaluation procedure in RPG is mainly clinical, starting from the premise of causal priority in each patient, thus attending to the reasons for his or her problem. However, as a support in the treatment, we resort to complementary means such as X-rays, resonance, tomography, and other studies that help to better understand the problem.

*2 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES.

In the physiology of the NMES (Neuro-Musculoskeletal System) and its alteration there are three fundamental principles to take into account:

Individuality.
Each person is organized and functions in a unique and personal way. Thus, the alterations also have a very personal character.

Globality.
Each part of the body is related to the others, therefore the organization, functioning and alterations of the neuro-musculoskeletal system occur within the framework of this interrelation.

Causality.
If we intend to provide a way of effective and lasting change that improves the quality of life of people, we must work on the causes and risk factors of the problems and not only on the consequences that these can generate.

The Global Postural Re-education method was developed respecting these fundamental principles, allowing the professional to OFFER a way to change...