Welcome to another episode of Resiliency Radio with Dr. Jill Carnahan. In this exciting episode, Dr. Carnahan invites Annette Verpillot, a leading expert in posture and jaw alignment, to discuss the mind-blowing science behind posture and its impact on our overall well-being.
Key Points
- Supercharge your health by assessing your posture and correcting imbalances.
- Assessing foot mechanics and gait may have a massive impact on improving your overall health and level of chronic pain
- Recognize how jaw alignment affects athletic performance
15% Discount : https://shop.posturepro.co/discount/DRJILL15?rfsn=7894685.c23f35
Our Guest – Annette Verpillot
Annette Verpillot, the founder of Posturepro, is a Canadian entrepreneur, therapist, and internationally recognized Posture Specialist known for her expertise in restoring the brain-body connection. Her groundbreaking Posturepro Method, taught to professionals worldwide, incorporates advanced rehabilitation and injury prevention techniques. Annette's renowned postural evaluation system has a proven track record of eliminating chronic pain, enhancing strength, and improving sports performance. She has collaborated with elite athletes and prominent teams such as the 49ers, the Florida Gators, and State Police Officers. Annette actively contributes to posture, health, and performance research, presenting her work at prestigious conferences. Through industry events and media appearances, Annette advocates for good posture, leaving a lasting impact on global health.
Annette's Links
https://eu.posturepro.co/collections/frontpage
https://www.instagram.com/posturepro/
https://www.facebook.com/Posturepro
https://shop.posturepro.co/
https://www.tiktok.com/@posturepro?lang=en
https://www.youtube.com/@Posturepro/featured
Dr. Jill Carnahan, MD
Dr. Jill Carnahan is Your Functional Medicine Expert® dually board certified in Family Medicine for ten years and in Integrative Holistic Medicine since 2015. She is the Medical Director of Flatiron Functional Medicine, a widely sought-after practice with a broad range of clinical services including functional medical protocols, nutritional consultations, chiropractic therapy, naturopathic medicine, acupuncture, and massage therapy.
As a survivor of breast cancer, Crohn’s disease, and toxic mold illness she brings a unique perspective to treating patients in the midst of complex and chronic illness. Her clinic specializes in searching for the underlying triggers that contribute to illness through cutting-edge lab testing and tailoring the intervention to specific needs.
A popular inspirational speaker and prolific writer, she shares her knowledge of hope, health, and healing live on stage and through newsletters, articles, books, and social media posts! People relate to Dr. Jill’s science-backed opinions delivered with authenticity, love and humor. She is known for inspiring her audience to thrive even in the midst of difficulties.
Featured in Shape Magazine, Parade, Forbes, MindBodyGreen, First for Women, Townsend Newsletter, and The Huffington Post as well as seen on NBC News and Health segments with Joan Lunden, Dr. Jill is a media must-have. Her YouTube channel and podcast features live interviews with the healthcare world’s most respected names.
The Podcast
The Video
The Transcript
192: Resiliency Radio with Dr. Jill: The Mind-Blowing Science of Posture with Annette Verpillot
Dr. Jill 00:13
Welcome to Resiliency Radio, your go-to podcast for the most cutting-edge insights in functional and integrative medicine. I'm Dr. Jill, your host, and in each episode, we dive deep into the heart of healing and personal transformation. Join us as we connect with renowned experts, thought leaders, and innovators on the forefront of medical research, empowering you with knowledge and inspiration on your journey to optimal health. Today, I am so excited to get to know and learn with you [from] my guest, Annette. May I ask how you pronounce your name? I want to say it right.
Annette Verpillot 00:47
Verpillot.
Dr. Jill 00:49
Awesome. Thank you. I should have practiced before. Is it French?
Annette Verpillot 00:55
It is French. It is indeed.
Dr. Jill 00:58
It's beautiful. Verpillot. The founder of Posturepro, she's a Canadian entrepreneur, a therapist, and internationally recognized Posture Specialist known for her expertise in restoring the brain-body connection. Her groundbreaking Posturepro Method, taught to professionals worldwide, incorporates advanced rehab and injury prevention techniques. And her renowned postural evaluation system has a proven track record of eliminating chronic pain, enhancing strength, and improving sports performance.
Dr. Jill 01:27
She's collaborated with elite athletes and prominent teams such as the 49ers and the Florida Gators and state police officers. She actively contributes to posture, health, and performance research, presenting her work at prestigious conferences. Through industry events and media, she advocates for good posture, leaving a lasting impact on global health.
Dr. Jill 01:47
I'm so excited to talk to you today. I think a lot of people may not think about posture as the first place to go for health, but like I said, I can't wait to learn [more]. Before we dive into all the details on how posture can affect your health, tell us: How did you get interested in this area? What's your story?
Annette Verpillot 02:06
My story is that, as a rehab specialist, I quickly came to realize that the results that I was getting in the clinic were short-lived. This forced me to look a little bit deeper and dive a little bit deeper as far as trying to understand how or why I was not able to resolve the issue once and for all. I had started noticing that although the results seemed to be there and there seemed to be some alleviation of the symptoms, they always came back.
Annette Verpillot 02:45
I couldn't understand. I would look at their posture and I was like: “But that shoulder is still lower; that hip is still rotated.” So I thought: “Let's go on the table. Let's try to work on you.” Let's do this. Let's do that. “How are you feeling?” “I'm much better.” “Yes, the range of motion improved.” Nonetheless, the problem would always come back.
Annette Verpillot 03:04
I was stunned to find out, especially to realize that the role of the brain and the nervous system is not something that is taught in the schooling system of rehabilitation. We are taught to look at a specific segment or a body part. We're taught anatomy from a segmental perspective, meaning we're separating the body into different pieces. And we've created therapies that focus on muscles and joints and the way that muscles and joints move. In theory, this makes a lot of sense. But in a practical setting, this type of approach doesn't address the way that motor control develops in the first place. It all begins with your brain. Putting the pieces together and starting to incorporate that brain-based approach into my practice is what led me to where I am today.
Dr. Jill 04:02
Wow. What's so neat is that in you and so many of my guests, what I see as a commonality is this curiosity. You've seen in clinical practice that this is not quite working like we were taught. What else is possible? Then you go deeper and find out all these connections and you bring something new like you have that is transformative. Let's go back to posture in general. Tell us a little bit about: Why is posture so core for everything else that happens in our body, including our brain health?
Annette Verpillot 04:32
Posture is not something that's looked at in the context of rehabilitation. The brain-body connection stipulates that it is a system that works both ways. The brain affects the body, controls the muscles and joints, and gives us a sense of balance. But at the same time, the double highway here is that the body needs to be able to pick up information from the outside world and give that information to the brain so that the brain can make the best appropriate decision in regards to your movement, pattern, energy, consumption, and whatnot.
Annette Verpillot 05:10
This multi-component sensory system is, in my opinion, what is fundamentally missing in rehab or when we're talking about prevention or global health or wellness. I have found that when someone is in pain, has an imbalance, or is suffering from chronic pain, there is always an imbalance with that sensory-motor system, that brain-body connection.
Annette Verpillot 05:39
What differentiates our approach from other approaches is that we focus on influencing the subconscious proprioceptive system—proprioception being your sense of perception of where your body is in space. Whereas traditional methods, such as the ones that I was taught, will often target conscious proprioception. I found that for me, this is what has made the greatest difference in my practice, certainly with the results that I've been seeing since 2006.
Dr. Jill 06:13
Wow! This is fascinating, and I want to get my head around it. For those listening too, this is new. But it makes so much sense. I'm going to give an example and then maybe you can dive into specifics or give us an example. Years and years ago, I had severe low back pain. I got MRIs on my back. It looked horrible. There were degenerations and some narrowing of the foramen that were impinging on nerves. I thought I was destined, at 35 years old, to have low back pain. Well, today I have none. It's because of changing movement patterns and changing conscious thought.
Dr. Jill 06:45
I don't even know all the stuff you have to offer, but I'm assuming it's not uncommon to have someone who thinks that they're going to have degeneration or looks at an MRI or a picture of the structure and says: “Oh my gosh, this is terrible.” But the truth is, it doesn't always relate. Take my example or another example of anyone like that. How would you go about it? And how would you change that perception of pain through your methods?
Annette Verpillot 07:10
We begin with someone's body stability. Just to give you a little education as to what proprioception is: Our muscles and joints will give information to our brain in regards to our body position. We match this information with what we're seeing. And the feet and eyes will affect our sense of balance, which is our vestibular system. For simplicity purposes, if there's a mismatch between the information going into the brain… For example, if I'm sitting here and I see a train moving in front of me and have the perception, “Is the train moving or am I moving?” if there's conflicting information between my sense of balance and my visual system, the part of the body that is going to take the slack will be the muscular system.
Annette Verpillot 08:05
If we have conflicting information on a daily basis that arises from our inner ears and our eyes, over time these imbalances become stuck. These muscle imbalances become stuck in that pattern, and we learn to live, function, and walk with these imbalances. We know that movement activates the brain, but this is where, in the example that you've given, if you're moving with a body that is misaligned, it's just a question of time before you wear out your muscles and your joints, which then will lead to pain.
Annette Verpillot 08:46
That's when you get the MRI and they say, “You have discal degeneration” or “degenerative disc disease” or whatnot. But the perspective that we take is that we would want to prevent that from happening. Most people will go into an MRI or get a partial assessment when they have pain, but there is a way to prevent this. If we look at someone's posture and assess them beforehand, then we'd be able to prevent a lot of things.
Dr. Jill 09:18
Keep correcting me if I'm wrong, because I do not know all of this. You are the expert, but I want to understand it. My thought is that if you are walking around and you're structurally not aligned and are getting this disinformation from the vestibular system, the balance system, and your proprioception, your brain is trying to make sense of all that. So then you have to adapt. You might have an inactivation of a certain motor system, a lack of pronation in your foot, or something. Do you watch people move and change it from the movement to the brain? How do you go about assessing someone?
Annette Verpillot 09:54
In a non-moving posture. Movement is a succession of different static postures. It's like a card game; when you go like this, you can see the movement happen. We'll look at static posture first. I want to know: What are your weight-bearing surfaces? We can measure this with a force plate. We have very precise numbers that will show us if your weight distribution is [on target].
Annette Verpillot 10:20
Let's say you weigh 100 pounds. Are you 50-50 and are you 25-25 on each foot? Or are you leaning most of your body weight on the forefoot of your left foot? If there is an imbalance there, then the muscles and joints of the lower body will overwork on one side and underwork on the other, which will lead to what you've explained, different types of muscle compensations or muscle tightness. The first thing is, what's your foot posture like?
Annette Verpillot 10:54
Then we'll go and look at eye movements. The ocular motor muscles are the muscles that attach to your eyeball. How is your eyeball moving in the socket? What we find is that more often than not, there is an imbalance with those ocular motor muscles, which then leads to further compensations to the way that you weight bear your entire body weight and then try to balance your body. As you're trying to move through space and walk, jog, or live your life, these imbalances will further decompensate the body. This is where imbalances in the vestibular system will start to become a reality. With this imbalance in the vestibular system, since the cerebellum and the vestibular system work hand in hand, there are going to be imbalances in that unconscious system as well. The erector spine—those tonic muscles will be unbalanced.
Annette Verpillot 11:51
This is happening at an unconscious level. People will notice and will say to me, “I've noticed I always tilt my head when I take a selfie” or “I'm always leaning on one side.” An example would be to take a look at your shoes. Are they wearing out unevenly? Are you wearing out your jeans on one side more than the other? For gentlemen who are listening, are your suits tailored in such a way that one arm is longer than the other? These are all signs of postural imbalances that we think are normal but are really adaptative to an underlying imbalance in the nervous system.
Dr. Jill 12:27
This is so fascinating. My other thought is vestibular—I send people all the time to vestibular evaluations and therapy, especially after a concussion or sometimes toxic effects. Mold or infections can affect the brain. You're starting from assessing posture and then assessing the vestibular system. And then, what do you do as an intervention? A vestibular therapist might give eye movement exercises. Where do you start? There are so many areas here that could be compromised. I'm so curious as to: Do you start with the brain? Do you start with the eyes? Do you start with the posture?
Annette Verpillot 13:01
We'll always start with the feet because there are some studies out there that talk about how weight-bearing surfaces can affect eye movements. We know that eye movements can also affect weight bearing, so it goes both ways. But because individuals walk with their feet—they don't walk with their hands; this is part of the evolutionary process—we'll start with the feet first. A lot of times, what we'll see is that some eye movements will improve with foot correction and the sense of balance will also improve.
Annette Verpillot 13:33
We do these basic tests where we can test to see if the stability, the imbalances, and the vestibular system have improved simply by working on foot correction. We do this by using therapeutic insoles, which are one of the products that we use. The therapeutic insoles were borne out of the science of the fact that we have these sensory receptors in our skin that respond to frequency. If we then use that frequency to stimulate those specific sensory receptors, the question was: Can we improve someone's stability or decrease their instability simply by working on those mechanoreceptors?—which are the little sensory receptors in the skin of the foot.
Annette Verpillot 14:17
It turns out that the winning frequency is a 90 Hz frequency. When we use that frequency under the sole of the foot, the brain perceives this information. You're not going to feel anything, per se. Unconsciously, this information is being picked up by the skin. Then the brain simply projects the motor commands more symmetrically in the body, which results in better upright posture and better balance.
Dr. Jill (pre-recording) 14:44
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Dr. Jill 15:40
Oh, gosh. Like I said, this is so fascinating. People are going to get tired of me saying that, but I'm so interested. So you start with the feet and that can change the balance, change the vestibular system, and change the eye movements. You're going from bottom to top.
Dr. Jill 15:53
Give us examples. In your bio, you've treated athletes, you've treated police departments, and you've treated all kinds of [people]. In my practice, I have chronically ill patients. Who are some of the patients who benefit the most from this kind of therapy?
Annette Verpillot 16:06
Oh my God, everyone! Who would not benefit from this? But let's talk about the last study we did with the Massachusetts State Police. Clinically speaking, police officers are probably the profession that is the most stressful or is under chronic stress. We wanted to see if there was a way that we could help them regulate their stress through posture correction. There were three criteria that we tested with the Massachusetts State Police: Grip strength, shooting accuracy, and blood pressure.
Annette Verpillot 16:43
We simply corrected the feet with the therapeutic insoles pre- and post-. We had some clinicians on site who would verify if the blood pressure did indeed decrease. And keep in mind that some of these officers were on blood pressure medication. Others weren't. Some were younger, some were older, and everything in between. What we found was that of all 13 officers, all 13 of them improved in their blood pressure reading. Their shooting accuracy also improved, as did their grip strength. I've seen this; I've been doing this since 2006. But it's nice to have the validity of that clinical study that at least you're like: “Wow, there's something that's there that confirms that through foot correction, you can have an impact on so many systems and improve wellness and longevity in anyone, really.”
Dr. Jill 17:38
This is amazing. What about post-concussion? Is there some area that you treat specifically? I'm assuming it would improve.
Annette Verpillot 17:47
Yes. I think with post-concussion, there is improvement. But what I would say is that you can avoid a concussion. It usually is through a sport. I work with a lot of athletes. But what I will say is that if there has to be rehabilitation after the concussion has occurred, it's always going to be easier to rehabilitate that athlete if, before the concussion, they were better aligned. If their eye convergence was perfect and they had good posture, the treatment protocol post-concussion will be easier, and the results will be quicker or should be quicker if there are no other issues. You're putting the favors on your side to have successful treatment. With concussions, the regular protocol that has to go through will go through and will unveil, but that brain disconnect is always going to be [able to heal] faster and better when posture is better aligned.
Dr. Jill 18:49
Amazing. And with the police officers, the stress—those things that we would think are totally unrelated to posture—improved. What about children? Do you treat children? Do you see kids of different ages? How would they benefit?
Annette Verpillot 19:02
Yes. I love to begin with children. I think that prevention starts with children. Where this becomes interesting with children or even with adults is the understanding of how primitive reflexes are going to affect what it is that we're seeing. The primitive reflexes are movement patterns that we all have when we are born that allow us to develop our muscular system. They develop in specific stages, allowing us to control our muscular system and move within the environment. What I started finding is that by correcting foot posture, I was able—not in all of the cases but in many—to improve primitive reflexes simply by working through the feet. I was like: “Oh my God, what is happening here?” I was testing it with kids and with adults.
Annette Verpillot 20:08
Let's say we're talking about an asymmetrical neck reflex, which is when you turn your head on one side and the body will follow, which is a positive reflex. With adults and kids, I would see that through the insole correction, we would get a massive improvement in the integration of those reflexes. This is because we're having an effect on that primitive brain through the vestibular system by improving the body's upright posture. What we're doing is changing the autolytic system, which is constantly, constantly, constantly projecting on the muscular system.
Annette Verpillot 20:43
I do work with children. I think that for parents, it's important for them to know if their child has retained primitive reflexes. If they do posture correction insoles and eye exercises, then primitive reflexes. But also, everything related around the jaw—breastfeeding, jaw development, proper tongue posture—is going to have a huge role because we do work with the jaw as well. Feet, eyes, and jaws are what we work on in the clinic.
Annette Verpillot 21:12
We address the jaw with a Functional Activator, which is a device that positions the tongue on the palate. It does not move your teeth. It's not an orthodontic device. It serves one purpose and one purpose only: When you put it in your mouth, it forces proper physiological tongue posture, which allows the child or adult to breathe physiologically through their nose.
Dr. Jill 21:35
Wow! Oh gosh, there are so many questions I have around this because the jaw is [a] huge [factor]. I've known that from dentists and the TMJs. Tell us a little bit about: Why does a jaw have such a profound effect on the autonomic nervous system and posture? Let's connect those dots for people who don't realize the connection there.
Annette Verpillot 21:53
Yes. The jaw is four systems in one. We have the actual joint, the muscles, the teeth and the tongue. We know that the proprioception of the jaw itself is within. This means that the sensitivity of your teeth and the contact of your teeth is how proprioception is related to your brain. If you have what dentists call premature contact… This means that when you open and close your mouth, if instead of all of your teeth touching together, there is a contact prematurely on one side, and then boom, there is an adjustment—which is the same thing when you're walking if your heel is not landing properly on the ground—then that information is going to be picked up by one of the biggest cranial nerves in your brain, the trigeminal nerve. And that's going to discharge everywhere. It can affect your eye movements. It could affect your vestibular system. If your vestibular system is affected, then that is going to create stress and anxiety in your body because you are physically unstable. Instability causes anxiety. So now [you have] anxiety, [an increase of] cortisol, and so on and so forth.
Annette Verpillot 23:03
When we're talking about the jaw, ideally, newborns should be breastfed for as long as possible. One thing that you want to make sure of is that there is no thumb sucking, finger sucking, or these pacifiers so that you can promote jaw development, the chewing of hard food as much as possible, and movement as much as possible. Everything that we're not doing any more with our kids is pretty much what we need to change.
Annette Verpillot 23:34
But then what we'll find is that if there's this asymmetry and pressure with the jaw, there are some studies that are showing or explaining that the position of the lower jaw will affect the sagittal plane. And that goes back to the feet, the eyes, and the vestibular system. Understanding this connection—even for dentists or anyone who's in rehab—is extremely important because this is a global and holistic approach to body stability. As opposed to cutting the body into different segments and saying, “Go see a dentist.” Dentists are great. We need dentists, but they're completely unaware of the role of the jaw in regard to posture and balance.
Dr. Jill 24:16
Gosh, that makes so much sense. Even when you talk about the police officers' blood pressure, many people would be like, “Why are those connected?” But what you're saying is that all of this—starting with the feet, the jaw, the eyes, and the sympathetic and parasympathetic [systems]—affects our whole autonomic system. If you are in a chronic state of imbalance, you're also going to be in a chronic state of stress. Is that correct?
Annette Verpillot 24:37
Correct. Absolutely. You completely nailed it. Then the question is: If we have constant stress and a constant release of cortisol, which is the hormone of stress in our body, what will then end up happening? There's a cascade of events that could end up happening, even from a digestive perspective or even a wellness perspective. Your blood sugar levels will be affected. Your digestive enzymes will be affected. It could affect the hydrochloric acid in your stomach. It could affect your pH balance, your blood flow, and your enzymes. The list goes on and on and on. This just stems from cortisol. If posture can affect our stress levels, never mind what's going on in your life right now, it would make a lot of sense to indirectly tap into posture to help us better manage our stress. And this holds true for children as well as adults.
Dr. Jill 25:39
Yes. I'm thinking back and maybe you can comment on this. Back when I was born, I had severe allergies. I had swollen adenoids and tonsils. I breathed only out of my mouth for the first five years. I sucked on my fingers, probably up until about five years as well. I was breastfed. But it's interesting, as you mentioned all those things. I'm sure all of those had a huge effect on my whole sympathetic and parasympathetic. Then, later on, I got cancer at 25. I had Crohn's at 26. As I'm hearing you talk, I'm like: “Oh, yes, that makes sense. Even in my history, there's probably a lot of things.”
Dr. Jill 26:11
Do you ever see corrective [measures] like Invisalign or braces make things better or worse?—because they're clearly affecting the vaults and the tongue. How do you feel about those kinds of things—good, bad, or neutral?
Annette Verpillot 26:24
Everything is good as long as we're considering all of the sensory entries that are contributing to posture. It goes back to what we were saying at the beginning of the podcast: Unless we're working on each and every one of those sensory components at the same time from a multi-disciplinary approach for an extended amount of time, this is where we'll see the fastest results. If we work with different treatments, mouthguards, or whatnot for the teeth without considering that there may be an imbalance with the eye muscles or an imbalance with the feet, we’ll have a correction with the teeth, but this correction will either over-correct or under-correct because there is still a source of imbalance that is going on in the body stemming from either the feet or the eyes. And the same holds true for the feet. If you decide to address your foot without looking at your eye movements or your jaw, then you have two other sources of imbalance that are contributing to the instability of your foot.
Annette Verpillot 27:27
What I'm proposing is an approach that addresses all of the sensory components at the same time for a minimum of six weeks. Why six weeks? That's roughly the equivalent of 10,000 hours, which allows for neuroplasticity to occur, become permanent and be fixated in the nervous system and in the brain. And then we reassess: How are you feeling? How are you doing? How are your symptoms?
Annette Verpillot 27:52
With everything, Jill, that you're doing right now or any other functional neurology doctor or any specialist out there that cares about their patient's health, whatever it is that you are doing, if you add posture correction to it, you will propel the results.
Dr. Jill 28:10
This is amazing. Let's walk through what you would do in your program and the devices and things, because you've got a lot to offer. If you're listening and want to know where to find her, we are going to list all the resources, all the websites, and whatever you have for us. So don't fear. I'll have those for you and we'll talk about them at the end. But let's say a 40-year-old female with some low-back pain wants to optimize her posture. Start with the feet. How would you address her? What would you start with?
Annette Verpillot 28:36
Yes. I'm looking at her stability and doing different types of testing to see if her vestibular system is involved. I'm going to be looking at her weight-bearing surfaces. Is she leaning more on the left, the right, the forefoot, the rear foot, the toes, or the heel? What's going on here? I'll couple that information with their posture, or sagittal plane, frontal plane, and transverse plane. I will match that with their pain level. What are they restricted in? Do they have pain right now? Can they bend over forward or whatnot? I will then look at primitive reflexes as well. Then I will correct the foot with the insoles. Then I will look at the eyes to see if there's also an imbalance with the eyes and if there is, I will do some visual eye exercises to unblock their diverging or hypoconvergent eye. Then I will reassess. That's typically what a session looks like.
Dr. Jill 29:37
A quick question on the eyes: Is it like convergence, divergence, tracking, and saccades? Is that like a typical vestibular assessment?
Annette Verpillot 29:46
Yes, not even as complicated. I will have them converge and see what's going on. What we find is that nine times out of ten, there's a diverging eye. The first goal for me is to correct the diverging eye and restore proper convergence before we start looking into any other issues. What we find is that when we do that, the imbalances that we saw in the sagittal frontal and transverse planes, as well as the instability test, nine times out of ten completely improve—alongside their pain and movement restriction.
Dr. Jill 30:17
And that's before you do anything with the mouth—you do the feet and eyes first?
Annette Verpillot 30:20
Exactly. Typically, the symptoms that someone will get when they have a jaw problem that predominates… The jaw will affect the feet, the feet will affect the eyes, and the eyes will affect the feet. It's all linked together. But which one is causing the problem first? If there's an occlusion problem, typically the patient will feel the pain in the morning when they wake up. If it's more of a visual problem and if the eyes, the oculomotor muscles, are causing the imbalance, then the pain would be felt towards the second part of the day. And if it is all day long, then we're talking about the feet.
Dr. Jill 30:57
Wow. Fascinating. Obviously, if people can see you in person, that's amazing. But do you have a program where people can do this either virtually or online? Or if someone wanted to see you or get assessed, how would they do that?
Annette Verpillot 31:10
Yes, we do offer online consultations, which can be found on our website. For any healthcare professional who wishes to learn these methods, we do offer courses as well, depending on where you're at. If you're looking to implement this type of method in your practice, we do offer the Posturepro Method. And then we have other programs that are more introductory to a brain-based approach. We also have programs that talk about the jaw exclusively, the eyes exclusively, or primitive reflexes exclusively. But the Posturepro Method is more for professionals or for anyone who's looking to combine this in their practice and make a living out of it.
Dr. Jill 31:54
That's exciting. You have the ability to teach someone like me or someone else who's in any healthcare field to assess and give recommendations.
Annette Verpillot 32:04
Absolutely.
Dr. Jill 32:05
Amazing. Oh, my goodness. Yes, because we need more people like you out there, which is why you're here. I love that so much. Give us a couple of examples of some of the cases. I can see how there are probably things that you wouldn't expect to improve and that you might have seen, like the police with their blood pressure or their grip strength. Those things I would not have expected to improve. But clearly, you went in knowing that this is a whole-body thing. What are some of the surprising things that you've seen in certain cases that have been amazing?
Annette Verpillot 32:33
The one that stuck with me the most was Parkinson's disease stage 4. This was right at the beginning of my career. I have to say that I didn't have the knowledge that I have today nor did I have the confidence. I had confidence in the science but there's always that part of your brain that says: “What if it doesn't work?”
Annette Verpillot 32:56
I had this lady, Diane. I still have her videos. I stumbled upon her videos last week as I was looking to do different types of videos for my social media platform. She ends up having stage 4 Parkinson's. She said to me: “The doctors are not sure that it's Parkinson's. Nobody can figure out what's wrong. I have extreme pain. I'm completely unstable. Can you help me?” And honestly, I didn't know. I was like: “I don't know. The worst thing that can happen is that nothing happens.” I should release her videos now because, at the time, my social media channel was not as big as it is today. But her testimonial is eye-tearing. You feel her passion. And what I did was address her foot. I had her eye muscles work out. And with Diane, I worked on her scars as well. She had a big scar, and I worked on the scar.
Annette Verpillot 33:56
The changes within 24 hours were life-changing. She called me and said: “I'm coming back into your office. I need to do another testimonial.” She was laughing, laughing, laughing, and screaming with joy. So I have to say that that's what stuck with me—it was Diane.
Annette Verpillot 34:13
My very first assessment was of a knee surgeon here in Montreal who was retired and was unable to get up from a chair. He had gotten two double knee replacements four years ago. He said: “For the last three years, I can't get up without my cane.” The same procedure: “Let's assess his posture. Let's correct the feet. Let's look at the eyes.” They all have a diverging eye, by the way. We worked on the feet and the eyes. Within 45 minutes, I had the guy standing up without any pain, without his cane. The whole family rushed towards me and hugged me—crying, tears, emotions, and everything. These were the moments that shaped my career.
Dr. Jill 34:53
Yes. I love that you've taken it to where you're now teaching doctors. I can tell [you're] a fellow healer—the heart. Number one is curiosity because it took that to get to where you're at now. But number two is being creative enough to create a system that works and that you can multiply and share with people. I love this.
Dr. Jill 35:12
Tell us, where can people find you? Where's your website? We'll include these links and if there are any specific products. You mentioned the feet. They can get insoles as well, right?
Annette Verpillot 35:20
Yes. The therapeutic insoles are the product that I've been using in my practice since 2006. Ever since COVID, we've released other products that are more affordable for certain folks. But the ones that I strictly work with are therapeutic insoles, which can be found on our website, Posturepro.co. Our social media channels are also @posturepro.
Annette Verpillot 35:46
We have a mouthguard. It's a one-size-fits-all, I'm going to have to say, because we can't customize it to people's mouths. We had a mouthguard created called the Functional Activator to help with tongue posture because I could not find a mouthguard when I was working here. I was like: “Every single mouthguard I'm putting in someone's mouth—when they're coming in with their mouthguards—I'm testing them, and it's creating an imbalance.” You could see that it's either blocking their cervical rotation or it's increasing their instability. I was like: “If it doesn't exist, I'll build it.” And this is where we came up with the Functional Activator.
Annette Verpillot 36:21
We've recently added a vagal activator as well, which are these awesome devices that look a little bit weird. You put it in your mouth and flick the tab. It creates this vibration that helps boost your vagal tone. It's very efficient, allowing you to relax fairly quickly.
Dr. Jill 36:40
Amazing. In the next five years or so, where would you like to see yourself, your work, or the world?—because we all need someone like you. There are so many people who are suffering with pain. What would you see as the next step?
Annette Verpillot 36:56
The next step is called Symmetrix.com.
Dr. Jill 37:01
I love it! You already know.
Annette Verpillot 37:03
I do. The next step is Symmetrix.com, which is a fusion where posture correction and jaw alignment will converge. We're also looking to create a multi-disciplinary clinic where we have different doctors who are going to be working under this clinic. The work is in progress. It's not yet launched, but we are collecting emails. Our waitlist can be found on our social media channel. When this is released and ready to go, we will send an email out to everybody. But this is where I envision myself in the next five years.
Dr. Jill 37:38
Amazing. And I love that you put effort into multiplying your knowledge. So often you get this incredible practitioner who knows so much, but there's only one of her. I love that you're training and teaching other people to do what you do.
Annette Verpillot 37:54
I'm so grateful to be able to do that. Through other practitioners, I'm able to help so many other people whom I would otherwise not be able to reach. It's through podcasts like yours that I'm able to spread awareness. I'm very grateful and thankful to be able to speak on your podcast today.
Dr. Jill 38:13
You are welcome. It is absolutely a joy and a treat to meet you. I look forward to watching the progress. If you're listening, we'll be sharing all the links where you can find Annette and her work. And again, thank you sincerely for the amazing work that you put into the world!
Dr. Jill 38:27
Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Resiliency Radio with Dr. Jill. Wasn't Annette amazing? The power of posture. Who knew that the jaw and eye movements in posture could affect so many different systems? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Dr. Jill 38:43
Stay tuned for future episodes. We release new episodes every week. You can find all of my episodes on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please do stop by and leave a review. It helps us reach more people. If you want transcriptions or audio recordings, you can also find all of the old episodes on my website, JillCarnahan.com. If you want to research products, services, or some of my favorite things, you can go to DrJillHealth.com and find everything you need there. And thanks again. I look forward to seeing you next week!
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The product mentioned in this article are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information in this article is not intended to replace any recommendations or relationship with your physician. Please review references sited at end of article for scientific support of any claims made.
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