KINESIOLOGY

Often I am asked, “what is Kinesiology ?” or “how can it help my problem ?”

Another question on their lips is “how do you pronounce it ???”

Let’s start there. Kin-EASY-ology. See it’s easy …. And effective too.

As Kinesiology has such a broad variety of ‘styles’ these are not simple questions. In this article I will try to provide a glimpse of what Kinesiology is and demonstrate its vast range and scope.

Where Kinesiology fits in to the scheme of things

Western Medicine is invaluable to our society in many ways. In general it has a strong focus on stopping a problem be it illness or pain, etc from getting worse. They look at a dead body and say “how do we stop it from getting there”. This is sometimes a necessity.

Kinesiology on the other hand focuses on a healthy body, mind and spirit to see how we can keep it there (healthy) or return it to this healthy state. When the two are compared the question needs to be asked, emergencies excluded; 'Do you want to just 'not die' or do you want to live a happier, healthier ‘QUALITY OF LIFE' ?

The important thing to remember is that both are necessary in our society. Kinesiology uses this holistic health care approach by looking at all the ‘symptoms’ including the problem at hand, lifestyle, your relationship with those around you including family dynamics, work and social life, diet, emotions and habits and much more. The Kinesiologist is interested in the ‘whole you’.

History – Where did it come from

Dr George Goodheart DC, from the USA, developed Kinesiology. He gathered a group of enquiring minds and together they researched and expanded on his findings. One of these brilliant minds was Dr John Thie, author of Touch For Health, who realised the importance of sharing these very effective methods with the general public. With open hands it was received and further researched.

Kinesiology has now grown into this remarkable health care modality studied and researched around the world. Some of these wonderful researchers include Dr Bruce Dewe MD author of the Professional Kinesiology Programme (PKP), Dr Charles Krebs author of A Revolutionary Way Of Thinking, Trevor Savage responsible for bringing N.O.T. and Hyperton-X Sports Kinesiology to Australia.

Today Kinesiology combines theories and knowledge from modalities such as Chiropractics, Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Physiotherapy, Naturopathy, Nutrition and counselling. All this enables a well-educated Professional Kinesiology Practitioner to truly work in an effective holistic manner.

The Basic Philosophy

The TRIANGLE OF HEALTH is used as our model to describe how the ‘being’ (whole person) must be in balance (See fig 1). For a healthy and happy existence the physical, bio-chemical and emotional sides of our life must be in harmony with one another, hence the term ‘holistic health care’. For example, if you feel anxious about speaking in front of a group of people (emotional), butterflies in the tummy may occur (chemical reaction), this causes discomfort to your body (physical).

How it works

Kinesiology uses neurological feedback, via messages to and from the brain to the limbs, which when under stress show imbalances to the body’s energy systems. These energy systems feed and help regulate organs, muscles, in fact all the systems that make us work. It even deals with our thought processes, which are responsible for learning difficulties and many emotional issues. Every thought we have affects every cell in our body.

If an activity or issue is a stress to the being the brain responds by shutting off muscles for a split second. Quickly the brain assesses the severity of the stressor. If it can cope we continue unaware the problem affected us in any way. If we struggle to cope then the muscles stay shut off.

The Professional Kinesiology Practitioner places the muscles in specific positions and puts light pressure against them. This is known as muscle testing or muscle monitoring. If there is a stress to the muscles they will not hold. This is called an imbalance.

Once an imbalance has been found it will be corrected by one of the many techniques used in Kinesiology. Some of these techniques include holding points, rubbing points, stroking of a meridian, dietary changes and movement. Corrections are generally done while you are fully dressed.

What can it help?

Any pain, illness, emotional stress, learning disability or inability to perform at our full potential is affected by energy imbalances. The Chinese have known this for thousands of year. Kinesiology’s main objective is to re-establish optimal energy within our channels (meridians), reflexes and neurology.

This energy balancing has the potential of helping almost any type of problem. The following are some examples of what Kinesiology may help.

Emotional trauma: phobias, fear, physical abuse, emotional abuse, Goal enhancement

Structural: pain, posture, performance, injury, flexibility

Sports performance: injury recovery, muscle strength, power, motor skills, co-ordination, balance, emotional strength.

Chemical: food sensitivities, allergies, nutrition, illness, hormones.

Education: learning difficulties, enhanced learning, brain integration, comprehension, fine motor skills

Miscellaneous: behavioural problems, attention deficit, neurology

And much more