Kinesiology

Traditionally kinesiology refers to the study of muscles and movement in the body and is widely used in this context by physical educators, coaches, physiotherapists and fitness specialists. Now, through worldwide use for over thirty years, a new meaning has evolved for the word, which is to describe a natural health system used by therapists based on manual muscle testing. This is not surprising as kinesiology is very much a 'hands on' therapy and it is far more tangible for the person to feel for themselves what a muscle test is, experience the difference when a change happens, learn how their body is responding to the daily stresses and strains, than it is to provide a string of words to impart the same information.

Kinesiology evolved from the innovative and inquiring mind of an American chiropractor, George Goodheart DC. In 1964 Goodheart started to use muscle testing to evaluate the effectiveness of his treatments. He would test a series of muscles before and after a spinal adjustment which gave him valuable feedback on how effective a manipulation was for the condition that he was treating. This also led him to look further into the nature of muscle spasm. One of the recurring problems Goodheart encountered was that when some patients returned to their normal life style their muscle spasm would also return along with the stiffness and pain.

His first insight into the revelation that there were other ways of relieving pain and restoring muscle balance came when he was working on a patient who was suffering from severe pain, whose outer thigh muscle (tensor fascia lata) consistently 'unlocked' when tested. Out of frustration, Goodheart massaged firmly all along the outside of the thigh. Much to his surprise the muscle held its position when retested and the pain disappeared. Excited by this initial success, Goodheart started massaging other 'weak' muscles but was unable to produce the same result. It wasn't until much later on in his research that Goodheart learned that he had rediscovered a strengthening technique associated with the lymphatic system.

The first real breakthrough came when he was testing a shoulder muscle (anterior serratus) of a young man who was having problems keeping his job as a manual worker because his shoulder blade kept 'popping out'. Goodheart found tender spots along the area where the muscle attaches itself to the bones, which he proceeded to massage. What he felt under his fingers were nodules (tiny lumps) which seemed to disappear as he pressed firmly. When he retested, strength had returned to the muscle and it remained firm. Goodheart shared this information with other chiropractors and this method of strengthening muscles became known as origin and insertion massage.

Goodheart continued experimenting. He noticed that when muscles became weak, the corresponding muscle (muscle on the opposite side of the body) would be tight and when the weakness was corrected, the other muscles that were tight or in spasm relaxed even though they had not been worked on directly. From this he concluded that it wasn't the muscle in spasm that caused the problem but the 'weak' muscle which caused other muscles to become over-tight or strained. One analogy for this is to think of a swing door held in place by two springs; as long as there is equal tension everything works well. When you push the door open, one spring gives as the other compacts and then the door swings back to its normal position. If, however, one spring becomes loose, the opposing spring tightens, tangles up and the door no longer swings freely. Oiling or working on the knotted spring will not rebalance the system. You will have to replace or strengthen the weak spring to restore balance.

And so it is with muscles. For each movement a muscle makes there is another muscle or group of muscles which is involved with that movement, one muscle contracting and the other relaxing. If you rest your hand on the table and tap your fingers you will be able to observe clearly the muscles on either side of the forearm relaxing and contracting in sequence to bring about the movement of your fingers.

This simple finding -that one needed to work on the opposing weak muscle and not the tight muscle to restore balance -was revolutionary. At the time it was common practice to work only on the over-tight painful muscle, using massage to relax the muscle and manipulation if necessary to realign bones; treatment was then considered complete. This temporarily relieved the pain and relaxed the muscle, but the spasm would return because the underlying problem of the weak muscle had not been addressed. As a tent needs all the guy ropes to be working equally to sustain a firm structure, so the body needs all the muscles to be performing well to maintain balance. Goodheart had presented us with a new way of working with muscles to relieve pain and tension but as yet he was still unaware of what caused the muscle to weaken in the first place.

Using this premise of working on the 'weak' muscles, Goodheart continued to look for other techniques to restore balance to the body. In 1965 he observed that muscles would strengthen dramatically when seemingly unrelated areas of the body were massaged firmly. These areas were often tender and the tenderness would disappear after the massage. He discovered that these points were part of a wider collection of reflex points that had been identified by an osteopath, Frank Chapman, and helped to improve the function of the lymphatic system. Goodheart soon realized that these reflexes related to the ones he found quite by accident when working on the man whose fascia lata muscle wouldn't strengthen. This was the beginning of the correlation of various strengthening techniques for the correction of weak muscles which included working with blood flow, nutrition, emotions, meridians, acupuncture points and energy flow.

Goodheart developed this science, shared the knowledge with other chiropractors and demonstrated his findings at seminars, workshops and conventions. He called this new system Applied Kinesiology and founded the International College of Applied Kinesiology (ICAK) in 1973.

Everything we do such as eat, think, walk, fall, is being recorded and has an effect throughout the body. If you have a pain in one leg you shift your body weight to help relieve the pain, thus placing greater strain on all the muscles in the other leg and foot which, in turn, alters your posture and centre of gravity. This, in turn, will create locked joints and pinched blood vessels which will restrict the flow of blood, thus affecting the supply of nutrients to the organs and altering the production of hormones. This means your chemical balance is now changed which affects the individual cells in your body. As you start to feel and think differently you will assume yet another posture, then there will be one more tight area, another pain, one more cycle.

The body is all one interacting unit, an intrinsic whole with many different parts, systems and functions which interconnect and affect each other. Some of the things we do can cause an imbalance in our bodies. The body often sends out warning signals that all is not well, aches and pains, minor digestive upsets, generally feeling tired, tension, lack of concentration, crying for no apparent reason and so on. Unfortunately we don't always heed these warnings and often wait until the body starts to break down before taking any action.

Everything we do has an effect on the body as a whole. This is why kinesiology, like many other complementary therapies, uses the whole person approach and does not look to just address the symptoms. It takes into account the person's emotional, nutritional and physical states and life style, all of which contribute to the overall picture and interact with one another. This interaction means each area is interdependent on the others, therefore a problem in anyone aspect can cause disturbances in any other. If only one area is addressed then the problem will not be resolved and is likely to recur. For example, treatment for low back pain might consist of manipulation, spinal adjustments or pain killers. But if that person also consumes ten cups of strong coffee a day which is weakening his psoas muscle (hip stabilizer), is under pressure at work, and has an unsatisfactory home life, then physical treatment alone is unlikely to bring about permanent relief. All of these aspects will need to be addressed for that person to be able to function properly without pain.

A triangle is often used to illustrate the triad of health in kinesiology, structure/physical, nutrition/chemical, emotion/mental. Each aspect can affect the other and we need to work to restore balance between them. Muscle testing can help determine the underlying cause of problems and reveal what is needed to address them.

The body stores the trauma of our lives in muscles and each muscle contains a history of its uses and experiences. Muscles are a part of the body's communications system. Messages are being sent from the muscles to the spinal cord which carries them to the brain where they are received, interpreted and a reply sent which results in some action taking place, all in a minuscule space of time. The action could be a movement in response to a shift in gravity, a change in body temperature, releasing of a hormone, the creation of a feeling and so on. This interaction of communication is going on all the time within our bodies and when we check muscle responses we are tuning into this neurological system.

Picture your body as one big telephone system with the brain as the main exchange and all these messages being transported from the muscles (telephones) along the nervous system (telephone wires) through the vertebrae of the spine (local exchanges) to the main channel (chunk of telephone wires) -the spinal cord. And you know what sometimes happens: crossed lines, calls disconnected, lines permanently engaged, breakdowns, interference on the line. Now it becomes clearer as to why some of our inner messages can also become confused. Muscle testing enables us to tap into the body's communication system, unravel some of those telephone lines when necessary, push the right buttons and help bring the body back into balance.

There are approximately 650 muscles which make up the flesh of the body and account for about half the body weight. Muscles move bones and are attached to bones by tendons. One attachment is the origin, which is fixed and the other the insertion, which is movable. When a muscle contracts it has the effect of pulling the insertion towards the origin. Movement is brought about by the coordinated action of pairs of muscles contracting and relaxing. Muscles are always in a state of slight tension -muscle tone -which keeps the body in its upright position and enables the muscles to respond swiftly and spring into action.

Muscle performance is enhanced by the energy from all the body systems flowing freely to that muscle. If the energy is blocked or turned off, the muscle will be working below par. You probably won't be aware of this because the body does its best to compensate for any undue stress and strain that we put on it. Because of its inbuilt ability to self regulate and correct, it will often cope with the stress and bring itself back into balance. Kinesiology helps fine, tune us when we are out of synch; gives us a set of tools to use to mobilize the body's own self healing abilities.

Muscle testing is one of the universal tools used in kinesiology, through which the therapist accesses the body's communication system, gathers information on how the person is, acts on the information received and rechecks to see if the treatment has been effective. Retesting the muscle after treatment not only tells the therapist how effective the correction is but also informs the body that a change has taken place -by conveying this information to other muscles it allows them all to adjust to the change. Muscles that have become tight will relax, reset themselves to an appropriate tone and regain postural alignment. When muscles have been given a new message this needs to be reinforced. Old habits are hard to break, as we all know. Retesting anchors the change in the body's systems.

The tests themselves are designed to isolate a muscle (or muscle group) as much as possible by putting that muscle in its most contracted position. You can feel this for yourself by placing a hand on the upper chest, whilst your other arm is stretched out at your side at shoulder height. Bring the arm round in front of you so that it forms a right angle with your body; as you do this you will feel the muscle under your hand become shorter and bulkier. This is what happens to a muscle when it contracts. Manual pressure is then applied to see if the arm can hold that position. In kinesiology this is not a measure of strength as such but a measure of the muscle's neurological response and ability to lock.

Muscle testing in kinesiology differs from the original form of muscle testing in three ways:

1. It is not measuring the power or strength of a muscle.
2. It is evaluating the nervous system that controls the muscle's function.
3. The timing of the muscle testing procedure has been changed. Having placed the limb to be tested into the appropriate position, there is a deliberate pause of about two seconds before applying pressure. This gives the body time to record and adjust to the changes that have taken place and to recall previous data stored in the muscle.

Tapping into the body's sophisticated communications system through muscle testing enables us to become aware of imbalances. The body does its best to compensate through one muscle for weakness in another. By muscle testing we can ascertain the body's true condition. What we are looking for is a 'lock'. A lock is when a muscle responds by meeting and remaining firm against the pressure being applied. If the muscle being tested feels mushy, shakes or gives way, that indicates that help is needed. Once a muscle weakness has been determined there are a variety of options available to bring it back into balance.

Anyone can push on an arm or a leg; there is more to muscle testing than that. It requires a good basic knowledge of muscles, where they are and what they do, proper training and practice. There are many factors that can affect muscle testing and if these are not taken into account then the results will be unreliable. Most practitioners will go through a 'clearing' procedure before starting an assessment. Like learning to play a musical instrument, you don't expect to just pick it up and play a tune first time and when you've mastered the skill you still need to tune the instrument before you start to play.

How can kinesiology help

It is not an exaggeration to state that everyone can benefit from kinesiology, acknowledging as it does the individual needs of each person, young, old, fit or ill. It can help with 80 per cent of all health problems that people consult their doctors for various aches and pains, digestive problems, skin eruptions, nervousness, depression. It can help aid change in attitude, belief systems and behavior. It can help improve co-ordination, reading, writing, sporting performance and artistic skills. It can help detect food intolerances and nutritional needs, allergies and addictions. How? Because it embodies all aspects of the human being, mind, body and spirit, and supplies the means to improve performance when needed. Kinesiology is not a panacea but it does offer a very precise way of assessing and correcting imbalance. And what is ill health, after all, if not imbalance?

Many of our modern-day problems can be related to our present life styles. In the last hundred years our life styles have changed almost beyond recognition; machines are used to carry out household chores, we eat food that has been refined, processed or treated, chemicals and pesticides are used freely, we ride instead of walking, and watching television is a number one pastime for many people. Our planet is under threat and maybe our bodies too. Antibiotics are prescribed freely from an early age and these are known to kill friendly bacteria that live in our bodies. Will we be equipped to fight off serious infection if needed? Or will our bodies have become so used to all these medications that they will cease to have the desired effect and our own protective forces will be so depleted that they will be ineffective too? Cases of allergies are increasing rapidly, as are cancer and Aids -all these things are placing increasing burdens on our immune system.

Often we may be unable to prove that having taken certain action has prevented us from becoming ill yet it is obvious that serious illnesses -heart disease, diabetes and so on -do not arise overnight. They are often preceded by a breakdown in healthy function, poor diet, lack of exercise or excessive stress. Discovering unrealized minor imbalances and correcting them decreases the risk of these accumulating and resulting in illness or disease at a later stage. A symptom is a message from the body to alert the person that all is not well. Modern allopathic medicine often uses medications and surgery to 'cure' symptoms. Complementary medicine emphasizes that the body is self-healing and that symptoms are a sign that something is not right and the body is defending itself.

Kinesiology truly is a holistic therapy, treating as it does the person as a whole, rather than treating symptoms. Kinesiology works with the mind, emotions and spirit as well as the body to improve a person's well-being. With kinesiology you learn to trust the body's own integrity, do not presume to label or diagnose the malfunction and gently encourage the body back to health and balance.

In allopathic medicine, it is likely that if you present the same symptoms as others you will be given the same prescription, remedy or treatment. Kinesiology doesn't focus on symptoms, it asks 'what does this body need?' and often obtains results where other methods have failed. The assessment techniques take the guesswork out of what and how to treat by allowing the body to reveal precisely where the problem is and what is needed to put it in an optimum state to heal itself.

Much of kinesiology's popularity lies in its diversity, for the range of its application is almost infinite. The list that kinesiology can and has helped:

• accident trauma
• acne
• addictions
• allergies
• anxiety
• arthritis
• asthma
• attitudes
• backache
• bed wetting
• behavioral problems
• bladder problems
• breast soreness
• breathing difficulties
• bursitis
• candida
• carpal tunnel syndrome
• catarrh
• chronic fatigue syndrome (ME)
• clumsiness
• concentration, lack of
• co-ordination, poor
• cramps
• crying for no reason
• depression
• digestive disorders
• dizziness
• earache
• eating disorders
• eczema
• elbow pain
• emotional strain
• eyes
• fallen arches
• fatigue
• fears
• food intolerances
• frozen shoulder
• hemorrhoids
• hay fever
• headaches
• hiatus hernia
• high blood pressure
• hip problems
• hyperactivity
• hypoglycemia
• ileocaecal valve syndrome
• insomnia
• irritability
• irritable bowel syndrome
• joint pain
• knee problems
• learning difficulties
• low back problems
• lumbago
• memory, poor
• menopause
• mental strain
• migraine
• mood swings
• muscular aches and pains
• neck ache
• nightmares
• obesity
• panic attacks
• period pains
• posture
• pre-menstrual tension (PMT)
• prostate problem
• repetitive injury strain
• rheumatism
• sciatica
• self-esteem, poor
• shock
• shoulder pain
• sinusitis
• skin disorders
• sports injuries
• tension
• tinnitus
• tiredness
• vision impairment
• weight problems
• whiplash
• wrist problems

What kinesiology does is to boost and balance the body's own vital life force. It is not the practioner but nature that does the healing, with the support of sound nutrition, adequate rest, nature can enable the body to rid itself of toxins, restore energy flow and release negative stress.

Techniques used in kinesiology to balance the body

Our muscles often go out of balance; every new stress we encounter can tip the scales. Think of yourself as an electrical energetic being, with all these messages and prerecorded instructions being transmitted throughout your body. A deficiency or an excess in this system will lead to a malfunction. When the muscle being tested does not 'lock' (hold that position), it is an indication of an imbalance within your body. Kinesiology tunes into and works with the electrical energy circuits of the body. The treatment methods used in kinesiology restore the energy flow to the body systems, thus bringing about a change. This change is also registered by an improvement in the muscle response -the muscle locks.

ENERGY

Vitality, sparkle, zest -this vision of 'get up and go' is what most of us think of as energy, and it is. There's more: energy is not only within us but also surrounds and radiates out from us. You do not stop at your skin: all of us have energy fields, an aura, which goes beyond skin boundaries and can be felt and seen. This kind of energy is referred to as 'subtle energy'. Simply by virtue of the fact that kinesiology is a 'hands on' therapy, through touch we are interacting with the energy field that surrounds us. This interaction of energy fields is clearly illustrated by surrogate testing, where another person (a substitute) is used to access information for someone who cannot be muscle tested directly, for example a baby or frail elderly person. This method works well for muscle testing plants and animals too.

Everything, from plants, to crystals, to food, to hands, has an energy field. One of the easiest ways to see these energy fields is through Kirlian photography, named after its inventor, a Russian electronics engineer called Semyon Kirlian. It produces photographs by using high frequency electrical currents instead of light. This is achieved by placing a plate between the high frequency current and the subject. A mild tingling may be felt when the current is switched on. The prints show what look like flares radiating out from the subject. Kirlian prints can be 'read' and some kinesiologists have experimented with this by taking a picture before and after a balance with very interesting results. Kirlian photography could prove invaluable for our health. Research suggests that signs of illness and disease show in our aura long before they can be detected in our physical body.

People have worked with these subtle energies for healing for centuries. The Bible and other ancient literature talks about a person being surrounded by light or light radiating out from their body. Some individuals have a natural ability to see auras, others develop the skill with a little training. The existence of subtle energies is now more widely accepted.

Most people can feel this human energy field in a more literal sense. Start by holding your hands close together without touching. Take them apart about two inches, slowly bring them back to their original position, then move them about four inches apart. Continue slowly moving your hands back and forth, increasing and decreasing the space between them. Something is building up between your hands. Heat, cold, tingling, a pressure: like a force field, there is something there that you cannot see. Once you've experienced your own energy field, try it out with a partner. Place your hand above theirs, palms facing; again experiment with distance. Move your hands over their body, take your time. Sometimes you won't feel anything and your partner will give you valuable feedback on what she/he is experiencing. This three-dimensional energy field or aura is said to contain a record of all your past experiences and your state of health. Healers who have developed the sensitivity are able to see this aura and use their skills to rebalance the subtle energy fields.

BALANCE

In your home you use the thermostat in your central heating to help provide warmth and a constant supply of hot water. Likewise your body uses a variety of devices to help maintain homeostasis -balance: working to keep your temperature at 98.60 (37°C), maintain blood sugar levels and activate homeostasis mechanisms like goose bumps to protect you from hypothermia, fatigue to warn you that you are doing too much and thirst to stop you dehydrating. The word balance is also used by kinesiologists to describe what a kinesiology session is and what happens in it. You will hear people talk about 'having a balance', 'giving a balance,' 'being balanced'. This simply means muscle testing - finding the muscles that are switched off, correcting these with a variety of techniques and restoring the energy flow. Words like blockages or imbalance may be used to describe why a muscle is not responding and staying locked. When we regain physical, mental and energetic balance, our bodies are able to cope more effectively with all the extra pressures we place on them.

Using the following techniques will bring the body back into balance, by strengthening weak muscles and working on low body energy. None of them are more important than others; treatment is based on what the body indicates it needs.

BALANCING TECHNIQUES

Nutrition

Food - what to eat, what not to eat, too much of this, not enough of that; this will continue to be an ongoing topic with new revolutions taking centre stage every now and then. Most people say they know what they should be eating but they don't always put it into practice.
What you eat and drink plays a big role in how well your body functions. Those of you who own a car wouldn't dream of filling your petrol tank with cooking oil and expect it to perform well. We need to give the same consideration to the food that we put into our mouths to build, repair wear and tear and for conversion into energy and heat. Living in the fast lane, grabbing a sandwich for lunch, rushing to meetings, existing on chips and micro waved processed food, going on a crash diet, all send ripples of distress throughout our systems.
Kinesiology offers specific nutritional support for each muscle which can be used as a guide to what you may be needing. Nutritional needs are very individual and can constantly change. Muscle testing allows the flexibility to meet an individual's varying needs. If the muscle unlocks when tested and the therapist wants to find out if nutrition will help strengthen the body, she/he will ask the client to hold the food, liquid or supplement in their mouth whilst the muscle is retested. If the muscle now locks and stays firm the body is indicating that the nutrition is needed. The reaction is almost instant once the food has mixed with the saliva and been in contact with the mouth.
Kinesiologists believe that there is a reflex action called neuro-lingual (brain tongue), which absorbs food through the tongue and transmits the information to the brain to enable it to assess the effect the substance will have on the body as a whole. This relationship between food and brain is easy to relate to as we know just thinking about something we like to eat makes our mouths water. If the body does not need the nutrition there will be no change in the muscle response. Having looked at this aspect of the triad of health the therapist will then continue to find out what other corrections may be needed to rebalance your body. Placing the food in the body's energy field is an alternative to placing the food in the mouth. The food is usually held in the region of the navel or against the cheek.

Reflex points

The following two kinesiology corrections use reflex points. A reflex is created when treatment to one part of the body affects another part without a visible link. When you press the light switch, a bulb lights up at some distance from the switch. You are aware that there are wires connecting the two points though you cannot actually see them. Thus touching one area can affect another which is at a distance. As you already know, different parts of the body are connected to one another by nerves, blood vessels, meridians. This is how you can treat one seemingly unconnected part of the body by rubbing or touching another part. Hence you can relieve certain headaches by rubbing a specific point on the outside of the thigh.
Neuro-Lymphatic Massage
Frank Chapman DO maintained that stimulating specific points would increase lymphatic drainage in a specific organ and he mapped out these reflexes in 1930. These reflex points are found mainly in the spaces between your rib bones on the front and back of your body; others are on the trunk, legs and arms. They are not lymphatic vessels, nodes or glands. These neuro-lymphatic reflexes are points which affect changes in lymph flow.
Our ability to fight off infections and destroy invaders depends mainly on the lymphatic system, which is our protective armed force. The lymphatic system interacts with the circulatory system acting as a filter and drainage network in the body and helping the blood deal with the by-products of cell metabolism. Unlike the blood stream, where the heart pumps the blood round under pressure, movement of lymph is brought about by muscular contraction which pushes lymph along the lymphatic vessels and through the lymph nodes. When the body is fighting infection these nodes can become inflamed and enlarged (swollen glands); the areas most likely to be affected are found in the neck, armpits and groin. Too much fat in the diet can also overload the immune system, making it sluggish and too thick to move along. The lymphatic system consists of lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes or glands, and lymphatic ducts.
Other lymphatic tissue found in the body are the thymus gland, tonsils, adenoids, appendix, the spleen and Peyer's patches which are found in the small intestine. There is twice as much lymph as blood in the body. The lymphatic system produces antibodies and makes the white blood cells (lymphocytes).
In general, stimulation of the neuro-lymphatic reflex points helps the body to 'turn on' the mechanisms which aid lymph flow. Thus it becomes easier to understand why a muscle responds so quickly to stimulation of these points if one has an image of a switch which turns the flow of lymph on or off. It is not the flow of lymph which brings about the change but the 'unblocking' of the communications system which activates a whole series of impulses to allow the body to respond. The lymphatic points occur either alone, in groups, or sometimes scattered over an entire muscle. These reflex points are often tender; the tenderness is usually greater on the front of the body than on the back. These points are stimulated by firm massage, the sort of pressure you use when washing your hair.
Neuro-vascular Holding Points
In the 1930s Dr Terrance Bennett, a chiropractor, discovered locations, mainly on the head, which seem to influence the flow of blood to specific organs and structures. Dr Bennett watched the internal effects of holding these points, using radio-opaque dye and a fluoroscope, a moving X-ray machine. This resulted in both an important contribution to health care and his untimely death from radiation poisoning. These points became known as neuro-vascular reflexes.
George Goodheart found that specific muscles would respond to one reflex only, but that most of the neuro-vascular reflexes influence more than one muscle. In his own work Goodheart found he could improve muscle response by holding these points and he could evaluate that response through muscle testing.
The vascular (circulatory) system is composed of arteries carrying oxygenated blood from the heart to the tissues and veins carrying de-oxygenated blood back to the heart. The blood stream also carries nutrients and water to the tissues, and distributes hormones and enzymes to the organs. It carries away waste products to the organs that excrete them. At any point in time, blood will be involved primarily where activity is taking place. Therefore when you are exercising it will go to muscles, and when your body is digesting food then it will be more active in the organs involved in this digestion. When we are in shock, or under a lot of pressure, we start to lose control. We can't think straight, forget everything, bump into things, don't feel cuts, hit out blindly, don't hear, our vision may become blurred. All of these reactions are brought about because blood has been withdrawn from the thinking part of our brain. Touch can alert the nervous system to our dilemma and refocus the circulation in the body. This is what is happening when the neuro-vascular points are being held, stimulating blood flow to specific muscles, areas of the brain, glands or organs.
Neuro-vascular points are activated by a very light touch. The pads of the fingers are used to make contact, slightly stretch the skin, and are held there. The amount of pressure used is what you would apply if you touched your eye lid with your fingertip. These points are held until a pulse can be felt which has a steady beat. Kinesiologists describe this as a 'capillary pulse', similar to those described by acupuncturists. In the case of bilateral holding points, the pulse beat needs to be felt on both sides and to be synchronized. The length of time they are held can be anything from twenty seconds to ten minutes. There are no hard and fast rules. Remember we are all individuals and our response times will be different.
Holding the neuro-vascular points on the forehead, which are associated with the pectoralis major clavicular muscle and emotional stress, will stimulate the flow of blood to the front part of the brain. This will activate the area of the brain that we use when making decisions, thus helping to put us back in control.

Meridians

We can also influence the energy that flows within our bodies in pathways called meridians. Knowledge of the meridian system has been used in acupuncture, for thousands of years by the Chinese to bring about harmony and balance. Meridians are channels which carry the 'Life Force' energy called Chi or Qi in one continuous flow around the body. There are twelve major bilateral meridians which interconnect with each other. Where one meridian ends another begins nearby. There are short connecting channels between each meridian. These meridians have now been mapped out and traced by radioactive dye. Through Goodheart's work, kinesiology is the one modern-day therapy that has added new information to ancient knowledge. This marrying of ancient Chinese medicine and Western anatomy and physiology came about through Goodheart's discovery of a direct relationship between muscles and meridians. He found that certain muscles related to specific meridians. This association of muscles and meridians followed the previously developed theme of muscle organ or gland relationship. For example, the fascia lata (muscle) associated with the large intestine (organ) is supported by the energy flow in the large intestine meridian.
Chinese physicians (and acupuncturists) detect imbalances in the energy flow by reading pulses on the wrist; kinesiology uses muscle tests to find these same imbalances. When the energy is flowing harmoniously within us we are free from disease. From its inception, acupuncture was thought of as a preventive medicine. People who visited the physician were well and he worked to keep them in good health by balancing the energy flow. If they became ill then the physician hadn't been doing his job and they didn't pay the bill. If treatments nowadays were taken on a more regular basis, minor complaints might never build into major problems as the body would always be kept in optimum condition.
Energy flows through the meridians in a continuous cycle. The Chinese start with the Lung meridian, breath of life. Touch for Health starts its cycle of balancing with the Stomach meridian. There are two midline meridians which meet where the lips touch: the Central (Conception Vessel) meridian which runs up the front of the body to the bottom lip and the Governing meridian on the back of the body which starts at the tail bone, goes up the spine, over the head to the top lip. These two meridians act as reservoirs and interconnect with all the other meridians.
In Chinese culture everything, including meridians, is classified as being predominantly yin or yang (negative/positive, female/male). Yin meridians are associated with the solid organs (heart, liver, kidneys, spleen) and flow upwards from the earth, yang with hollow organs (gall bladder, stomach, the intestines, lung, bladder) and travel down the body. There needs to be balance between yin and yang for us to be healthy.
When we test a muscle we are also testing the associated meridian and the flow in that meridian. Switched off (weak) muscles are related to under energy in a meridian. The energy flow can be stimulated by tracing meridian pathways in the appropriate direction. Meridian tracing uses the hand's external energy field to encourage the flow of energy in the meridian. The hand does not have to touch the body; working within two inches of the body will still stimulate the flow.
Stimulating the flow in the meridian will also enhance the energy to its related organ. Thus tracing the Stomach meridian, which starts under the eye and runs down the front of the body to the second toe (next to the big toe), will also enhance the function of the stomach.
Acupressure Holding Points
Each of the meridians has numerous points, some of which have special functions. The acupuncture holding points utilized in kinesiology relate to traditional acupuncture and the Five Elements. Stimulating these particular points will sedate or tonify meridian energy flow. Acupuncturists use needles, inserted with pin point precision, to stimulate points; kinesiology brings about the same effect by lightly touching the point with the pads of the fingers. Placing two to three fingers on the area ensures that the acupuncture point is covered. Balancing energy with this method involves four acupuncture points, two points being held simultaneously, one on the arm or hand, the other on the lower leg or foot. This means the energy is being moved between three meridians. It is a little like using jump leads on a car where you are transferring energy from one battery to another to kick start the engine. A second set of points are then held, in a sense to close the gate behind you. The first set of points opened the channel, these close the energy flow. Having opened the flow of energy, you also need to turn it off once the energy has been restored to the meridian.

Origin and insertion massage

Our heads are held in an upright position by the tension maintained in the neck muscles, despite its natural tendency to tilt forward. That's ten to twelve pounds being supported by these muscles. When you fall asleep in a sitting position the neck muscles relax and the head falls forward. This unexpected stretching of the muscles brings the spindle (nerve) cells into action; they contract, which causes you to raise your head and wake up with a start. This protective reflex action has undoubtedly saved the lives of many a tired driver and wakened many a bored listener at lectures and workshops. Spindle cells lie alongside the muscle cells and are attached to them throughout the muscle so they passively follow the movements of the muscle cells. When the muscle stretches so do the spindle cells. If a muscle stretches too much so as to run the risk of injury, these cells respond by sending a signal to the muscle to contract. This protective mechanism is also known as the stretch reflex.
When a doctor taps the ligament just below the knee cap, the muscle cells stretch. The spindle cells' reaction to this unexpected stretching is to protect the muscle by contracting: this is what makes the knee jerk. The delay between the tap and the kick indicates the amount of time it takes for the nerve impulse to travel from the spindle cell to the spinal cord and back to the muscle. Spindle cells will accept stretching of a muscle when the movement is not too sudden. We can learn a lot by observing animals. Watch a dog or cat stretch. They do it spontaneously, never over-stretching, not too quick, just naturally tuning up the muscles which they are about to use. Fast jerky bouncy movements, especially when used as part of an exercise routine, can bring the spindle cells into action. You can override this protective message, which has told the muscle to contract, causing tiny tears in the muscle fibres. These tears can lead to the formation of scar tissue in the muscle with gradual loss of elasticity. It is a bit like putting the hand brake on in your car for added protection when you park, forgetting about it, and driving off with the hand brake still on.
Golgi tendon organs are also part of the body's protective system. They are found at the end of the muscle. They keep the central nervous system informed of the amount of tension in muscles and guard against over-strain. If the tension is set too high, a message is sent to inhibit the muscle from contracting further as this could lead to fibres being damaged. In kinesiology we influence both these nerve cells (spindle and Golgi tendons) by stimulating them manually with firm massage, working at the ends of the muscle where it is attached to the bone on the Golgi tendons and in the middle of the muscle for the spindle cells.
This manipulative pressure is used in a variety of ways in kinesiology to treat muscle imbalances. As Goodheart discovered, you can wake up or switch on a muscle by massaging across the muscle ends. To release an over-tight muscle, a hand is placed on each end of the muscle and the action is to pull apart. This action sends the message for the muscle to relax and lengthen. It can be very useful when working with opposing muscles and one is overly tight. Muscle groups work in pairs, one contracting as the other relaxes. If the muscle group that should be relaxing has started out with too much tension in it, this will cause an imbalance in the movement and neither muscle group will be functioning properly. A muscle can also be too long, flaccid. To correct this you need to place a hand at each end of the muscle and push towards the middle, sending the message to contract. This and other techniques which work with the proprioceptors (sensory nerve endings which inform the body about movement and position) are very beneficial to people who participate in sporting activities and exercise classes.

SUMMARY OF ONE MUSCLE WITH ITS CORRECTION POINTS

Each muscle has its nutritional support, neuro-lymphatic and neuro-vascular points, associated meridian and organ and acupressure holding points. The following describes in detail one muscle and its associated strengthening corrections.

Pectoralis Major Clavicular

Muscle in the upper chest, origin along the collar bone, inserts into the upper arm just below the shoulder.

Nutritional support: vitamin B found in wheat germ, whole grains, liver and brewers yeast.

Neuro-lymphatic points: on the front of the body, left side only, just below the breast (fifth and sixth rib) from the breast bone to the side of the body. And on the back between the shoulder blades about half-way down (fifth and sixth rib) either side of the spine.

Neuro-vascular points: on the forehead half-way between the eyebrows and the hair line. These are also the emotional stress release points.

Associated meridian: the Stomach meridian, which starts under the eye, goes down the face, up the side of the face to the forehead, down over the eye, down the neck, torso, and front of the leg to finish on the second toe, one next to the big toe. The meridian is on both sides of the body and its associated organ is the stomach.

Other alternative therapies

• Acupressure
• Acupuncture
• Alexander Technique
• Ayurveda
• Biofeedback
• Chelation Therapy
• Hydrotherapy
• Kinesiology
• Magnetic Therapy
• Massage
• Meditation
• Naturopathy
• Reflexology
• Shiatsu
• Yoga