Manual muscle monitoring was originally developed to evaluate function for the assessment of insurance claims by Physical Therapists Kendall, Kendall and Wadworth in the late 1940’s.
Kinesiology is a gentle, safe and non-invasive system of muscle biofeedback monitoring to evaluate and correct the relationship between specific muscles and their related organs, organ systems, glands and emotions.
If there is a “stressor” in the interrelated system, such as an injury, chemical imbalance or emotional stress, the stressor will interrupt the neurological flow between the muscle and the central nervous system
It was a specific diagnostic technique of the broader field of Kinesiology, which is the study of motion in the human body and the movement of muscles, joints and limbs. The tests were designed to isolate a single muscle (or muscle group) in the most contracted state to see if a mutually applied force could be resisted. This is not a measure of strength, which relates to body size, but rather a dynamic test of the muscle’s neurological integrity, or ability to lock. A “strong” or locking muscle will resist the pressure while a “weak” or unlocking muscle will be slow to respond, or give way altogether. Muscles can only achieve power by contracting.Throughout the body there are opposing muscles, which work with and against each other to create movement, posture and stability. When muscles are in a relaxed state, they still have muscle tone allowing for contraction when needed.
Balancing the structural, chemical, spiritual and psychological aspects of a person is encouraged through the method of muscle biofeedback testing.
Kinesiology can be used for a variety of acute and chronic conditions such as:
- Allergies
- Arthritis
- Back and joint problems
- Digestive disorders
- Menstrual disorders
- Learning difficulties
- Stress and trauma
- Anxiety and depression
- Immune function
Or to improve performance, for personal development, and empowerment. The corrections are done by stimulation of the reflex points of the vascular and lymphatic systems, acupressure, massage and diet. In a balanced state the body’s ability to heal is maximised.
There are many modalities of kinesiology practised today. Irena is an accredited lecturer in four different modalities (described below), which are also used in the clinic. These courses are taught on a regular basis throughout the year as well as other self-help techniques to maintain optimal health, or to help family and friends. Details and programmes are available through the courses button.
Touch for Health
In the 1970’s, Dr. John Thie D.C., a chiropractor from Pasadena, California wrote a book we call “The Green Book”. It was written for the lay, non-professional person for use at home. The Touch for Health manual has been translated into over 15 different languages and is used in over 35 countries around the world, and the course is internationally accredited by the International Kinesiology College in Switzerland.
Touch for Health forms the basis on which every other modality of Kinesiology has been built. There are now about around 30 modalities developed around the world by practitioners, instructors and researchers.
Touch for Health identifies the relationship between 14 muscles, 14 organs and 14 meridians. Traditional Chinese Medicine uses a system called the Chinese Time Clock or the Wheel to show that meridian energy flows from one meridian and one organ to the next. It also considers the seasons and the elements in a system called The 5 Elements. Using this as a template, a person using the principle of Touch for Health is able to identify muscle/organ imbalances in order to balance the energy flows to improve posture, eliminate pain and improve physical and mental performance. Corrections involve gentle massage of the neuro-lymphatic reflexes on the body, holding neuro-vascular points located on the head or running meridians.
The Bowen technique is currently being taught and practiced world wide. This technique involves a gentle, dynamic system of muscle and connective tissue movements which balance the body and stimulate energy flows. It can be used safely on anyone from new borns to the aged, and the immobile. It has been used as a fast and effective treatment for sports injuries, and organic problems and is state of the art in remedial therapy.
The Bowen technique can provide treatment for:
- Sporting injuries
- Sciatica
- Frozen shoulder
- Ankle or knee problems
- Back pain
- RSI
- Neck restrictions
- Musculo-skeletal symptoms
- Migraines
- Stress and tension discomfort
- Organic conditions
- Menstrual irregularities
- Body balancing
- Bronchial symptoms
The Bowen technique addressed the whole body and restores the structural integration between the outer framework and inner organs. In many cases, it will be found that there are internal problems that are directly related to the external physical ailment and vice versa. The technique is particularly useful in relieving muscular pains and postural realignment. By improving the skeletal framework, the function of the internal organs will be greatly enhanced.
The Bowen technique is excellent for sports related injuries and reduces healing time, and activates the lymphatic system to improve drainage for congestion or swelling of tissues, and in cases of sinusitis, head colds, and swollen joints.
In most cases only 1 or 2 treatments are required.
One does not have to be unwell to experience the benefits from a Bowen treatment. It optimizes body function and health. Tests have shown that athletes have a consistently higher performance output and excellent injury recovery rate.
Applied Physiology (AP) is an advanced Kinesiology system and a powerful system of stress management developed in the United States by Richard Utt. It is based on the science and art of muscle/fascial monitoring to learn about the states of stress in the body. The body’s own “bio-computer” directs the course of therapy.
Stress management techniques
AP’s comprehensive acupressure techniques are based on the Five Elements Theory of Chinese acupuncture. Stress correction occurs at many levels, from the cell to the organ to the emotions, including the whole being. Often, one or more acupuncture points will be stimulated with an instrument called a “tei shin”. Or, two points will be held until simultaneous pulses can be felt, thus balancing a circuit. No acupuncture needles are used in Applied Physiology, only non-invasive acupressure techniques.
What type of conditions respond to AP techniques:
Since over 50 percent of all illnesses are said to be stress-related, a powerful system capable of relieving these “stress” conditions can significantly effect our health and general wellbeing. Heart disease, high blood pressure, colitis, asthma, kidney disease, peptic ulcer, depression, obesity, arthritis and cancer are some of the conditions for “stress” has been implicated as a significant factor. Resolution of stress can thus go a long way to improving these conditions that impact so negatively on our lives.
When stress imbalances are relieved, remarkable transformations can take place in body chemistry, organ and brain function. Even long-standing stress, such as depression, can be effectively resolved. By balancing stress, skin conditions and stresses caused by food and the environment have been relieved. Common complaints of hay fever, and muscular aches and pains including back pain, can often be quickly eliminated, or greatly improved. The after effects of accidents and other traumas can be diffused rapidly and effectively. Even clients with intractable conditions such as muscular dystrophy and polio have experienced increased use and co-ordination of muscles.
How does Applied Physiology work?
The AP system uses biofeedback from the muscles to detect “stress” in any system in the body and guide the types of corrections to be applied. Muscle biofeedback is used because muscles are related to various organs and energy systems within the body, as they relate to the Five Element Theory of Chinese Medicine. By monitoring a muscle associated with these energy systems, it is possible to get a “read-out” of the states of stress in any organ or system in the body.
In Applied Physiology, biofeedback from and “indicator muscle” provides a “Clear circuit” into the bio-computer which co-ordinates our physical function, largely subconscious. Indeed, the activities that run our bodies normally take place outside our conscious awareness. For example, most of us are not aware of how we digest our food or regulate the oxygen and sugar levels in the blood. Nevertheless, using an indicator muscle, we can communicate directly with the body’s own innate intelligence.
An indicator muscle is simply one that is in balance or homeostasis – neither “under-stressed” nor “over-stressed”. There is clear communication between the muscle and the brain. A clear indicator muscle is like a perfectly working electrical circuit in a house. We can check out a lamp by plugging it into the working circuit. If the lamp fails to light, it indicates an electrical problem within the lamp itself. We would then check out each circuit within the lamp separately to find and fix the problem. Similarly, in AP we “plug in” a variety of points on the body while monitoring a clear indicator muscle. Changes in the indicator from locked to unlocked and visa versa tell us about the state of stress in the muscles, tissues, organs, meridians and emotions related to these points. Once stress imbalances have been located, the Applied Physiologist works with the person to relieve stress and return the body to balance and health.
Massage is the art of manipulating the body through pressure and motion to create harmony, health and relaxation. The therapeutic effects of massage include:
- Beneficial influence on the skin, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, lymphatics, heart, digestion and absorption.
- Elimination of toxic matter via bowels, lungs, kidneys and skin.
- Increases the blood supply to vital organs – aids nourishment and cellular activity of these organs.
- Relaxes tight or spastic muscles, loosens fibrous thickenings around joints and breaks up acidic deposits.
- Exerts soothing or stimulating action on the nervous system.
- Secretory function of the glandular system is increased or decreased (normalised) to optimal levels.
Massage is particularly beneficial for stress management, to relax the body and mind, especially combined with the use of essential oils.
Remedial massage using special massage movements, is used in cases of frozen shoulder, neck, back and knee problems, and is especially useful in conjunction with other treatments such as the Bowen technique, Neural Organization Technique and other modalities of kinesiology.
Pamper and treatment packages:
make ideal gifts for special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, or for yourself any time.
Stress reduction:
Includes stress and time management, counselling and massage therapy.
Pregnancy nurturing and preparation for labour:
Includes aromatherapy massage, kinesiology, and labour preparation OR
Includes aromatherapy massage and labour preparation
Aromatherapy massage with facial, a 90 min treatment OR
Aromatherapy massage with foot reflexology, a 90 min treatment
Kinergetics was developed by Philip Rafferty in 1991. Kinergetics is a painless, fast, non-invasive method of healing that works on the body’s energy fields and is usually effective in helping a wide range of health problems. These include pain, limitation of joint motion, muscle injuries and sprains, T.M.J (jaw) problems, allergies, candida, as well as psychosomatic condition, especially where the underlying factor is related to emotional stress. It can also be used to assist in the elimination of toxins, such as mercury from the body.
Kinergetics can be used to improve general hydration and the body’s ability to utilise water, which assists the process of detoxication and blood cleansing. At a deeper level, it can be used to identify and clear stresses in the subtle bodies, which are often the cause of physical manifestations.
Kinergetics helps with:
- Pain, lasting pain corrections.
- Stress, accessing the causes to facilitate profound change.
- Allergies, identifying sensitivities and balancing the body for intolerances.
- Sports flexibility, stretch muscles, energise lymph, blood and meridian systems.
- Jaw problems (TMJ), balance the jaw muscles to balance the whole body.
- Toxicity – mercury – heavy metals, strengthen elimination organs to safely remove heavy metals.
- Hydration – dehydration, balance the body’s ability to utilize water. Dehydration is a major cause of pain, disease and imbalances. Improved assimilation of water enhances all wellbeing.
- Sabotage, Kinergetics actively locates subconscious resistance to healing.
- Candida, strengthen the body to clear candida toxins.
In Kinergetics, muscle testing is used to identify the areas of stress, pain or imbalance and also exactly where the correction is required. The only correction is healing energy, channelled through the hands, usually into an organ, gland, chakra or muscle.
Communication, business and personal relationships, whether with a partner, children, friends, family, or collegues are some important features in our lives that do not always run smoothly.
When communication breaks down or anger, tension and resentment are not expressed in a constructive manner in relationships or friendships, it is useful to have some counselling to help establish what the expectations in the relationship are and to establish what is important for each party concerned.
Counselling provides conflict resolution and insights into feelings and concerns, grievances may be expressed and problems resolved. The counselling process provides a safe and non judgemental environment for a person to express their opinions and emotions, and helps the person find solutions and if appropriate, gain negociation skills to obtain win-win situations in those cases that may otherwise be difficult to resolve.
In most cases only a few sessions are needed to resolve conflict and provide a satisfactory outcome.
The Neural Organizational Technique got its name from exactly what it intended to do. Neural is for nerve, Organizational is obviously for organization and Technique is a way of doing. It is a way of organizing the nervous system and therefore the body it controls.
This neural organization is the very thing which has given us the ability to survive and function under every possible situation. Some of the outward signs are the co-ordination of our stride or “gait”, when we walk and run, our sense of balance and posture, hand-eye coordination, sense of direction etc.
The organized neurological function of the brain itself depends on the very subtle and synchronous respiratory motion of the bone of the skull, which pumps the cerebral spinal fluid. This is responsible for proper drainage and circulation within the brain and skull. We must consider the many reflex (automated) neurological functions which centre the pelvis to gravity and to the head, and those which right the head to gravity, the environment and the pelvis to maintain the alignment of the spine. Using Kinesiology as a tool of evaluation we are ably to identify and correct these dysfunctions and as a result we see dramatic changes take place, almost immediately.
By dealing with CAUSES and NOT SYMPTOMS we are able to correct many dysfunctions and conditions which have often been difficult to treat in the past. Such conditions as:
Whiplash and head injuries
Cranial or head injury is probably the most undiagnosed, and therefore untreated physical problem. Because injury involves nerves and muscles that hold the head on the shoulders, a system of reactive muscles comes into play and this also affects the stability of the hips and pelvis, becoming a major player in the cause of lower back pain!
Temporo-Mandibular Joint
Research by Dr. Ferreri D.C., has led to the understanding of the cause of and the treatment from such diverse conditions as bed wetting, bladder incontinence, uterine and prostate problems, respiratory and circulatory problems stemming from diaphragmatic insufficiency, all sorts of back problems, and other health conditions. As further research was done, the sequence of taking food into the mouth, biting on it, chewing it thoroughly and then swallowing it (the feeding sequence) specifically related to the neurological control of the sequence of the digestive mechanism. The jaw or TMJ is also involved when we speak, when we are in pain, when we are emotionally stressed, plus many more situations. It takes up over 80% of our brain’s function! We may also have clicking jaws, face pain and tinnitus. There is a close relationship between the jaw and the sacrum, often contributing to lower back ain and it is also involved with Dyslexia and Scoliosis.
Dyslexia and ADD/ADHD
Dyslexia and ADD often involve eye tracking and auditory processing difficulties. This means that the child cannot focus attention on what is seen or heard for very long. We have found that at the base of may of these problems is a disorganised nervous system. Many times there is a head injury, often from birth or accident or falls as a baby. When the various reflexes for the eyes, ears, TMJ are evaluated and re-activated, the child or adult begins to process the information in a more meaningful way. This, of course, is what parents and teachers are looking for and is found in the N.O.T. program! Often there will be emotional problems and food allergies to deal with.
Idiopathic Scoliosis
Scoliosis is NOT A SPINAL PROBLEM – the deformity of the spine is a result of having a condition we call scoliosis (curvature of the spine). The cause of the bending comes from having hypertonic or too-tight muscles pulling in a constant way, causing a rotation and bending of the spine over a period of time. Generally, an injury to certain reflexes found on the head and pelvis, both front and back, along with certain hormonal changes around the start of puberty is the major cause. NOT can correct this situation.
NOT can also help with many other conditions, such as:
- Immune disorders
- Endocrine and diabetes
- Down’s Syndrome
- High blood pressure
- Menstrual disorders
- Asthma
- Epilepsy
- MS
- Cardiac dysfunction
Hypnosis, or private subconscious healing, is a state of deep relaxation which is natural and safe. It is a state of mind between waking and sleeping where a person is conscious, aware of physical sensation and surroundings, and yet much more receptive to therapeutic suggestions than they would normally be. It is a state of mind which many problems or conditions may be explored and treated.
It can offer benefits in many areas including:
- Confidence building
- Child birth
- Memory improvement
- Pain management
- Phobias
- Migraines and tension headaches
- Weight control
- Stop smoking
- Stress management
- Performance anxiety
- Exam nerves
- Fear and phobias
- Insomnia and sleep disorders
- Skin problems
- Social skills
- Assertiveness
- Bedwetting
- Sexuality and relationships
- Personal and behavioural conditions
While in hypnosis, your subconscious mind is open to positive, helpful suggestions. A hyno therapist will form suggestions that will help to meet your personal goals or change existing habits and create new behaviours. The suggestions that you receive while in hynosis are very effective. You will act upon them much more quickly than those given to you in a normal alert state.
The advanced techniques used are especially helpful in dealing with emotional problems. These techniques allow you to work within the privacy of your subconscious mind. There is no disclosure of any sort made by the client to the therapist. Everything that you discuss with your therapist, including the program you are undertaking is completely confidential.
On your initial visit, you and your therapist will spend some time clarifying your goals. The therapist will explain exactly what hypnosis is and will answer any questions that you might have. You will also find out exactly what program the therapist will be following with you.
Naturopathy is a natural holistic form of medicine. Holistic medicine addresses itself to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of those who come for care. It views health as a positive, vibrant, joyous state of vitality, not just the absence of disease. It emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual and the importance of tailoring treatment to meet the person’s individual needs. A number of therapies are used to improve vitality and restore and maintain optimal health.
Nutrition, massage, homoeopathy, herbal Medicine, acupressure/acupuncture, kinesiology, Bach flowers and other flower essences, counselling, Reiki, and many other natural therapies may be employed in assisting the client to a better quality of life.
Naturopaths commonly offer advice in the management of such things as digestive disorders, skin problems, stress related complaints, menstrual and reproductive problems, headaches, fatigue, lowered immunity, arthritic problems and many more.
Naturopaths do not treat disease directly as diseases are symptoms of deeper problems. Instead they attend to improving the body systems functions and this allows and directs the body to heal itself. We all have an innate healing process at work at all times and the body only needs a little direction in many cases and the body will get better itself, often very quickly.
The concept of “stress” was formalized by Hans Selye in the 1930’s after observing laboratory animals getting stress related diseases due to being subjected to unpleasantness. The term is borrowed from engineering and was introduced to medicine in the 1920’s by a physiologist named Walter Cannon in the sense that we understand it today.
Selye presented the concept of stress with two ideas:
- The body has a surprisingly similar set of responses to a broad array of stressors
- Under certain conditions, stressors will make you sick.
In a situation of stress, certain body systems like digestion, immune system, reproductive system and growth go into survival mode and become inhibited in order to spend the energy otherwise used for digestion etc. on survival.
In our daily lives, many things become “stressors”. Sitting in a traffic jam when you need to be somewhere at a certain time is a stressor. Going to work that is boring and unchallinging is a stressor. Tension in a relationships is a stressor. Lack of sufficient money to pay the bills is a stressor. Coping with illness is a stressor.
The body’s stress response (fight and flight) was designed for our survival, and is a necessary part of our body’s function. However, if the stresses are a daily recurrence and inescapable, the high levels of stress hormones (glucocorticoids) may result in breakdown of systems and disease, which may cause high blood pressure, burst your white blood cells, make you flatulent, ruin your sex life, premature aging and possibly damage your brain.
There are a number of ways to reduce the high levels of stress hormones brought about by the stress response:
- Time management
- Increasing predictability and control
- Managing pain and chronic disease
- Exercise
- Massage
- Meditation
- Hypnotherapy
- Social connectedness
A comprehensive approach to minimizing the effects of stress would typically consist of a number of sessions in which stressors are identified and coping strategies put in place, addressing time management and getting a sense of control over our lives, together with a program of proper nutrition as we excrete more nutrients at times of stress than we can absorb from food and a suitable program of exercise, which has a glucocorticoid lowering effect. Sessions of meditation, massage and hypnotherapy are a most useful approach to stress reduction and can form an important part of the program.
The program consists of 10 sessions, having 2 sessions per week (or 3 if desired) of 1 hour duration. The frequency and type of treatment will be defined during the first assessment and depending on individual preference. Goals will be set and strategies given to maintain the positive benefits.
Recommended packages could be either a full or a mini program, providing you with a discount of 15 % on the fees:
THE FULL PROGRAM: 10 visits of 1 hour duration, comprising massage ,kinesiology and counselling.
THE MINI PROGRAM: 5 visits of 1 hour duration, as above.
You may wish to have a personalised package to suit your needs, which can be discussed at the time of your visit or email for more information.