KINESIOLOGY
Overview
Systematic Kinesiology has its roots deep in the practice
and approach endorsed by the International College of Applied
Kinesiology based in the United States. Practitioners use
muscle testing to evaluate the underlying causes of symptoms.
All evaluation and correction techniques used are subject
to stringent research and evaluation procedures. A.S.K.
graduates undergo a two-year training course. Kinesiology
works to identify the main cause of disturbance in the presenting
symptoms whether structural, emotional or nutritional in
origin. Once having identified the main cause of a problem
the use of the appropriate technique or combination of the
three elements is employed to bring about a resolution of
symptoms.
“Applied Kinesiology” (pronounced kin-easy-ology)
is the science of muscle testing
in relation to all body functions. It was developed from
a system of structural
muscle testing used by the orthodox medical professions
for many years.
Practitioners use muscle testing as a bio-feedback system
to access hidden
information via the receptors of the body/mind.
The practitioner always acts only on the clear information
received from the client’s
own body, and treats the person in the manner, and in the
priority order indicated
by testing. So kinesiotherapy is clearly a “receptor”
or client response driven
modality or therapy.
Kinesiologists do not diagnose disease. They can locate
unrealised functional
imbalances using muscle tests. Muscle testing can locate
sub-clinical imbalances long
before any pathological condition develops.
When muscles are gently tested, the response depends on
whether all the factors
involved that enable that muscle to contract are “balanced”.
These are:
- Nerve impulses.
- Blood supply.
- Essential Nutrition.
- Lymphatic feeding and cleaning.
- Acupuncture energy flows.
- Cerebro-Spinal Fluid (C.S.F.) [the body-wide intelligence
agency]
- The Emotions. (Whether there is anything emotional
inhibiting the
normal muscle function).
If all factors function well, the muscle “locks”
with little effort on the part of the
one being tested, If the muscle tests '' spongy '' or is
difficult to hold, then one or
more of these factors needs to be balanced with massage,
touch, nutrition, and the
resolution of emotional stress.
Kinesiology taps into the vital spark or “LifeForce”
that runs the body. A motor car
has a “loom” of miles of cabling through which
impulses flow that control all the
electrical operations in the car.
Our own bodies have an infinitely more complex “loom”
of energy paths called
Meridians, which carry all the information needed to “run”
our every function.
When we test individual muscles, we are tapping into specific
portions of this
“loom”, and the body “talks back to“
in “receptor” language.
This method tells the practitioner exactly which of the
imbalances need correcting
first, then what next needs attention. So the body is always
offered treatment in its
own “priority” order as indictated by each of
the muscle test responses.
The result is many of the compensations disappear without
being treated, and most
conditions clear up much faster than they would, if the
body were treated in
random order guessed at by the practitioner. Usually, anything
a kinesiologist is able
to discover by muscle testing, they can rectify immediately,
or at the very least,
begin to alleviate the situation.
This enables the skilled practitioner to use Advanced Kinesiology
in preventive
mode. Finding all the imbalances and the compensations,
and by correcting them,
restores the natural balance of the body and enhances its
own ability to use it own
protective forces. Natural healing is facilitated and speeded
up. The person returns
to robust health.
Origins of Applied Kinesiological Muscle Testing
In 1965 Dr. George J. Goodheart D.C. a chiropractor in the
United States
discovered that when a muscle was tested, the result could
reveal vital information
about the individual being tested, which was quite impossible
to determine by any
other method of investigation. Many new additional aspects
of the health and
physiological function of the individual being tested, may
now be assessed in
seconds. In the last twenty years, the body of knowledge
now known as “Applied
Kinesiology” (A.K.) has developed rapidly, and much
clinical research has validated
the many new discoveries.
During the last ten years, Applied Kinesiology has gained
widespread acceptance
worldwide. Many orthodox doctors and complementary practitioners
are finding
muscle testing of great value. It is an almost ‘magical’
way to glean a great deal of
information from the body’s biocomputers. It is simple,
quick, non-intrusive, and
fits in well with other disciplines.
Some who first learned basic A.K., have developed other
systems using muscle tests.
Many of these use subjective or “intuitive”
forms of testing, which can be effective,
but are often largely based on different types of “belief
systems” which do not
necessarily stand up to objective scrutiny. Great care needs
to be exercised if
involved in such practices.
A.S.K. practitioners utilise only those techniques approved
by the International
College of Applied Kinesiology.
Development of the Science of Kinesiology
Dr. Goodheart first discovered the immediate effect of firm
massage pressure on
origins and insertions of weak muscles. Then he connected
the research made by
Chapman, an osteopath, who charted the ‘Lymphatic
Reflexes” on the body which
enhance lymph flow, with the different muscle groups.
Next, he investigated the skin reflexes located on the
skull researched by Bennet,
another osteopath, which were found to improve blood circulation
simply by the
lightest touch. Most muscles in the body have a common link
with the nerve
pathways which control the organs, anything which benefits
the musculature, also
balances the organ function.
When he made the link between Western technology and ancient
Chinese principles
of natural energy flow in the body, and how it may be assessed
and monitored by
the use of simple muscle tests, the power of applied kinesiological
testing made a
quantum leap in power and effectiveness.
Body Energies - Our Vital Life Force
For thousands of years, the ancient wisdom of the orient
has recognised that each of
the primary functions of the body, the lungs, heart, liver,
stomach etc., have energy
pathways called meridians devoted specifically to them.
Pure energy is invisible,
except when it affects some material object. Light is not
seen unless it strikes a solid
object, and is reflected back to our eyes. Heat is invisible,
until it affects some
chemical like coal and causes it to burn. Electric light
bulbs shine with the visible
proof that a powerful current is flowing through them, although
we cannot see the
electricity.
We know that our bodies run with the aid of electrical
impulses, read now by
special machines in hospital wards every day. The electrical
patterns which are
associated with the heart’s function, and brain waves
are similarly measured. Space
research confirms to scientists, that the laws of physics
apply equally to our bodies,
as to other material substances.
When an electric current is flowing in a wire, it sets
up an associated electromagnetic
field. It follows then, that since electrical impulses flow
through our bodies, there
must be an associated energy field. This field that surrounds
us all can be recorded
by Kirlian photography. Analysis of the results provides
scientific confirmation that
the theories of energy pathways, or meridians known to the
Chinese, are founded
on fact. Western scientists are now beginning to look at
anatomy, physiology and
bio-chemistry in a new light.
The many energy circuits of the body control all the different
functions of the body.
They also control the mental processes and especially is
this true in the emotional
field. This force is directed by the person’s innate
intelligence behind the scenes,
which makes millions of complex bio-chemical decisions that
determine the
running of our whole wonderful organism.
Stress Causes Disease
In perfect health, all the systems of the body receive an
unimpeded flow of this
energy. Our bodies are designed to withstand a certain degree
of stress and strain,
but when this becomes excessive, something has to give way.
Certain parts are shut
down when under stress, much in the same way as a fuse blows
when we overload
the wiring in our houses.
The science of Applied Kinesiology enables practitioners
to monitor the energy field
of the body. Using a simple series of muscle tests which
take only a few minutes to
do, it is possible to find where the imbalances are in the
body. These muscular
imbalances can then be assessed to determine whether the
fault is structural,
chemical, or is in the area of mental and emotional activity,
or maybe an energy
blockage.
In this way Applied Kinesioiogy can be used preventively
to locate any possible
sources of trouble, even before symptoms become evident.
If the circuit weakened
by stress is not corrected, this throws additional strain
on other parts. The energy
field will be adversely affected. An excess of energy can
produce pain, a lack may
eventually give rise to disease.
Many medical authorities are coming to the conclusion that
perhaps 80-90% of all
disease may be psychosomatic. This does not mean that the
illness is not real, nor is
it due to imagination. It is simply a fact that our minds
can cause adverse changes in
the way our bodies function, and produce ulcers, migraine,
rheumatism, and a host
of other very real problems, frequently relieved with Kinesiology
techniques.
We can be stressed in five ways, and each affects the other.
Physical stresses affect
our mental, chemical, and energy balance. Chemicals can
poison us, causing
physical and mental disturbances. Mental problems do cause
real sickness and pains
which are not just all in the mind. Our energies are stressed
by electromagnetic
waves. Thermal stress is the fifth. The relationship between
these factors is crucial
to the proper understanding of disease. It is quite useless
to treat any sector, if we
do not consider the effect upon the others.
The Effect of Muscle Imbalance
The minor imbalances in the tone of muscles revealed by
Kinesiological tests can
have far reaching results upon our health. If not rectified
they can have undesirable
effects upon the related bones to which muscles are attached.
They can also reflect
a problem into other parts of the structure, affecting posture,
perhaps the organ to
which it is related, as well as the blood supply to vital
nerve pathways, and
lymphatic flow which feeds and cleans by draining toxins
from tissues. The mental
balance may also be disturbed due to pain, lack of energy
or generally feeling
unwell.
We may not feel any symptoms when an imbalance first occurs,
but the weak
muscle will cause others which oppose it to tighten. This
can lead to muscle spasm,
which can then pull other bones that are associated with
it out of alignment. This
leads to further muscles being affected, and the compensations
mount up. It now
becomes clearer, how sudden unexpected pain in the back,
or neck may well be the
result of a long standing problems in musculature. It indicates
the need for regular
maintenance check-ups to discover any potential problems,
before they can cause
real damage.
Restoring Balance by Correcting Imbalances
Applied Kinesiology offers many techniques which give the
body impetus to begin
to correct the imbalances. Once it is determined where the
problems lie, in many
cases, the gentle application of fingertip pressure quickly
encourages the body to
adjust its own energy patterns. The innate intelligence
that controls and determines
the way a cut is to heal, or a broken bone is to knit, begins
to rectify whatever is
needed to initiate, continue, and complete the natural healing
process.
Sometimes a type of fairly firm massage is needed which
can be quite uncomfortable
for a few seconds, but most of the treatment is painless,
relaxing and pleasant to
experience for the client. In the case of some vertebral
lesions, or even where there
is some disc or nerve involvement, and great pain is experienced,
these methods can
often relieve the pain in minutes. In some cases, the bones
once again resume their
correct position, making forceful adjustment unnecessary.
In our daily lives, emotional upsets, mental anguish, business
and family worry can,
and do divert the normal distribution of body energies.
Often this energy
displacement remains static, sometimes for years, even after
the original cause is
long forgotten. Untreated energy imbalances can cause the
type of nervous ailments
that lead to an apparent need for pep pills, tranquilizers,
and other kinds of drugs
which affect the central nervous system. This type of stress
often may be greatly
relieved by supplements and this method of treatment.
The Client’s Part & Treatment Spacing
In practice, although considerable relief may be gained
from just one treatment, the
effect may or may not last long. It depends on the severity
and duration of the
problem, and whether the cause still persists. Experience
shows that the body often
slips back into symptom producing energy patterns. When
properly spaced
treatments are given, the person heals more quickly, and
are most cost effective in
the long term. Our clients are urged to consider regular
monthly preventive care
visits after treatment is completed.
Your therapist will offer suggestions to you which might
have a great bearing on
preventing a repetition of your particular problem, or causing
it to get worse. Your
co-operation can speed recovery, and could save you pain,
inconvenience, lost work
hours, financial loss, and all that makes matters worse.
It would be wise to consider
advice carefully, and at least put it to the test to see
if it helps. Take care of your
health!
Avoid undue sudden structural strains of jerking, lifting
and twisting the torso and
the spine and limbs. Use your body with care. Look after
you health and well-being
with regular gentle exercise. Walking and swimming are excellent.
In. the realm of foods, take some real thought about what
you eat. Ensure your diet
provides you with balanced meals of healthful, unprocessed,
natural nourishing
foods. Why do we carefully put unleaded petrol in the car,
and two star junk food
in our stomachs? In the mental sphere, do all you can to
avoid the stress of harmful
emotions. Anger, disappointment, worry, and inter-personal
conflicts, all diminish
the power of the body to maintain good health. Take steps
to reduce your stress
factors, while travelling, at work, and at home. All A.S.K.
practitioners of Applied
Kinesiology are dedicated to prevention, as well as to the
alleviation of symptoms.
And therapists are able to help clients much more effectively
if each person makes a
commitment to helping themselves.
Books
“So What Can I Eat???”
by Stephanie Mills,
This booklet is a must for every person/client frustrated
by finding they are sensitive to so many foods, or find
it difficult to do without wheat or dairy products, and
just do not know what to eat.
“Healthy Business”
by Madeleine Harland and Glen Find
An ideal ''How to'' book for anyone intending to set up
in the health care business, also contains many useful reminders
for those who have been in business for some time!
Reprinted several times as it is full of practical value.
Price £13-OO
Information Courtesy of
:
Association for Systematic Kinesiology
39 Browns Road
Surbiton
Surrey
KT5 8ST
Tel: 020 8399 3215
For Further information visit the website
www.kinesiology.co.uk
