Mike Cantrell, MPT, AIA Founder & Fellow

Mike Cantrell MPT, AIA® Fellow is a founder partner of Applied Integration Academy (AIA®), professional movement and performance consultant, educator, and physical therapist with over 35 years of experience working with a variety of patients and athletes in all manner of settings across the country and around the globe. Mike’s area of expertise centers on helping individuals with chronic pain and enhancing sports performance through the integration of neuro-respiratory dynamics. During this time, including medical practice experience, he has developed course content for physical therapists, dentists, myo-functional therapists, optometrists, as well as the strength and fitness community. He pioneered the grassroots, onsite interdisciplinary application model that is at the heart of AIA®. This has led to specific programs coupling respiratory function with dental management of the C-spine and ribcage.

Mike received his undergraduate degree in Nutrition Science from the University of Georgia, and he is a graduate of Emory University’s Physical Therapy Program. He served as a faculty member and course instructor for the Postural Restoration Institute® for over 20 years and was the director of faculty development for several years. He is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and The American Academy of Physiological Medicine and Dentistry.  

Additionally, as a partner founder and lead performance consultant with Applied Integration Consulting (AIC®), he has impacted patients, athletes, and practitioners across the US, Europe, specifically Germany and England, Australia, and Asia. He has been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with many professional sports teams in the MLB, MLS, FIFA, UEFA, Australian Football, NBA, NFL, and NHL. He also currently works with the Department of Defense as a performance consultant for the US Navy Seals.  

Of particular interest is the emergence of his skill with oro-facial management of AIC®-based principles that led Mike to be a partner founder of the Applied Integration Academy® (AIA®) to continue to investigate and advance the science of human movement in collaboration and integration with other healthcare professionals. Due to the exponential growth that has been seen in understanding physical and movement science, and as it continues to advance, this has led to the creation of the current AIA® program of courses.

In addition to traveling for on-site work as a performance consultant for AIA®, Mike sees private clients in the following regions:

• Mike Cantrell Physical Therapy Consulting. Mike’s practice is based to receive patients in Central Georgia where he resides.

• Integrative Postural Therapy® is a joint venture with Elizabeth Caughey DDS to bring the exciting integration of postural therapy and dentistry in Atlanta, Georgia.

• A joint effort with Alice Lam, DDS, Heidi Wise, OD (AIA Vision®), and James Anderson, MPT located in Houston, Texas where the union of dentistry-based occlusal management, vision, and postural therapy continues to be honed through patient care at the founding AIA Inspero Center®.

Heidi Wise founded PRI® Vision with Ron Hruska, MPA, PT, and taught for over 10 years with him. Dr. Wise has shared her expertise as the founder of AIA Vision®.