Sonya Prater

"My name is Sonya Prater and I am currently still a dental hygienist and a myofunctional therapist. My primary reason for joining BTA was for two purposes really. One, to help heal myself, and two, for professional reasons. I saw benefit in the breathing aspect because in myofunctional therapy we do breathing retraining. That really went along with that as well as posture. I see a lot of patients with forward head posture and so this was a great adjunct to helping them improve their overall posture and definitely their head posture. Personally, I was having some issues about 3 years ago and after many doctors visits and xrays and scans, I didn’t think there was anything that was truly wrong with me that needed a medication or surgery or anything. But something was going on. So I stumbled on a physical therapist who after a few visits told me my pelvis was out of alignment. I couldn’t really duplicate their exercises at home. Through my research with fascia I stumbled across Block Therapy and talked with Deanna and saw the videos that she and Quinn had done and so it just seemed like the natural thing to jump into. I’m very glad I did.

The biggest challenge in my career as a dental hygienist was staying out of pain. I have been a hygienist for 27 years now and I was on the search for a program that I could do at home and my leisure to get myself out of pain and keep myself out of pain until I could figure out how to get out of this career. So Block Therapy has definitely helped me manage that and I am able to adjust my posture while I am working to help me through my day. With myotherapy, probably the biggest challenge there was that I felt that I needed something else to solidify the posture portion of what we were doing. Although we would go through some posture exercises it seemed to be pretty minimal. With Block Therapy this was something that they could do while they were doing myotherapy but it was also something they could continue to do once they were discharged and it definitely becomes a lifestyle change. Especially for my adult patients. The older we get the more pain that surfaces from different injuries and things from the past and even from the present. Adults really notice the changes and the difference in how Block Therapy helps them in their day to day lives. Some of the changes have been incredible. Those who buy into it definitely see and feel the benefits. That has been a wonderful tool to have at my fingertips. I’m also just about to take a long sabbatical from dental hygiene and go to massage therapy school. I really want to get into TMJ with patients to help them more. I see it so much in the dental field and we tend to throw appliances at them and we really don’t address the underlying issues or know how to address that. I feel like my dental background plus Block Therapy plus massage therapy I will be able to do some hands on work and maybe help even more people. 

The only hesitation probably would have been financial and that wasn’t a huge hiccup for me. I spoke to Deanna and she said I could pay monthly and that was very doable and I thought I am just going to jump right in and do this, because if I don’t I am just going to continue to hold myself back. 

The biggest joy that I gain from sharing Block Therapy with others is that I love to help people. When I find something that is helpful to me and I see that others can benefit from it I like to let them know. Especially when they try it and see that it works - I love that I am able to introduce that to them.

Incorporating Block Therapy into my myofuctional therapy practice - there has definitely been an increase in my income because I do charge extra for that. What’s more rewarding is that people are really seeing the benefits of it and being able to really solidify the changes that they have made through myofunctional therapy and making the results last longer. 

Block Therapy has made a huge difference in both my personal and my professional life. Personally I look forward to coming home after a long days work and getting on the Block. It does immediately help me to feel better. I definitely notice the release and the pain that subsides. I use it in different ways. Double Blocking, Triple Blocking, and targeting different areas at once. I definitely feel a difference and feel more mobile. That was one of my personal goals of Block Therapy. I don’t want to go into retirement in the years ahead and sit on the couch. I want to be mobile, I want to be active. Personally, that was definitely a goal of mine that Block Therapy has helped make possible. Professionally, in my hygiene career, it helps to keep me out of pain. I want to be able to share that with other dental professionals. We are contorting our bodies on a daily basis and we need something to help combat that so that if we want to stay in that career, this makes it possible. In my myofunctional therapy, again it helps with the breathing aspect, solidifying the diaphragmatic breathing, taking care of some pain issues. It goes along with the fascia release like with a tongue tie - part of that is releasing the fascia. There is the deep front line that goes from the tongue all the way down to the toes. Having the fascia that is tight and being able to release that, not only in the tongue area but to be able to support that in other areas of the body to get the posture right along with the tongue placement and all the other things we do in the myofunctional therapy realm. It just helps to solidify everything. If someone is compliant and using it they definitely see the long term benefits of it.

The most important thing that I have learned in Block Therapy is that anybody can do it. Anybody can do Block Therapy no matter your age, no matter your activity status, no matter what. You can do it sitting in a chair, lying on a couch, lying on the bed. You can do it at anytime and with a lot of physical disabilities because there are a lot of parts of the body that you can work in different ways. It doesn’t have to be extreme or intense it is very passive. So that is probably my biggest takeaway. Anybody can do it. Even on the business side it is about sharing your story and again just helping people.

If you’re on the fence about joining BTA I say go ahead and take the leap. Don’t hold yourself back, because if you do it you will always find benefit from it personally and/or professionally. Take the leap, don’t hold yourself back. Just do it."

~ Sonya Prater