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Applied Kinesiology

Applied Kinesiology in Chiropractic Treatment

Applied Kinesiology (AK) is a system that evaluates structural, chemical and mental aspects of health using manual muscle testing combined with other standards methods of diagnosis.

At birth, despite the many neural differences and the infrequent genetic or the developmental defects,  most humans are born with an intact, integrated nervous system with naturally normal functioning cells, tissues and organs. By virtue of this fact, there is a complete balance in the muscles of the musculoskeletal system and, as a corollary, perfect posture, level hips, shoulders and head. These remain present until such time as we become subject to stress beyond the body's potential to adapt.

We are constantly under stress every moment of our lives. We are subject to physical stress from gravity, from our occupation, from straining, lifting, slips and jars. We are under nutritional and dietary stress from the foods we eat or the lack of proper foods, and under stress if we do not get enough sleep or if we do not exercise our bodies. We are also under stress from our emotion. Every problem of our life, whether it has to do with our families, jobs, or whatever, is a stress-------- the wear and tear of our life.  As you can see, there are many different types of stresses.  Normally, our bodies can handle all of these and adapt to them. If your body can adapt to all the changes in our environment, we remain healthy.

Sometimes we are subjected to stresses beyond what the body can handle. When this happens our bodies actually shut down, or turn off certain parts of our body in order to protect other parts.  This is very similar to the circuit breakers in our home, shutting off, if the wiring is overloaded.

These systems that shut down can involve nerves, blood vessels, lymphatic drainage, muscles and actual organs and can be turned back on with AK.  Here we can see that if these systems are left turned off for an extended time, malfunction and disease can occur in the tissues involved and could result in stomach problems, bowel problems, kidney malfunction, pain, headache, back pain, etc.  This depends entirely on the tissues involved.

Triad of Health

Literally, all health problems, whether functional or pathological, are involved with one part or all parts of the triad. It is important here to note, that as long as all parts of the body are working normally, good health will be the end result. Health comes from within the body.

When these systems are altered and turned off, muscles are blocked and do not work. It is important again to mention that for each muscle pulling in one direction in our body there is a muscle on the other side pulling exactly the opposite way. In other words, all muscles are counter balanced. If one muscle pulls with 90 pounds of pressure, then the muscle that opposes it must also pull with 90 pounds of pressure. As long as all muscles are balanced, we have good posture and our spine is held erect in its normal position. However, if a muscle becomes blocked today, say perhaps in the lower part of your spine, you will not feel any symptoms. But now, the muscle that normally balances the blocked muscle will begin to pull harder, due to the imbalance. It will keep getting tighter and tighter and pull harder and harder until one day it will be under such a severe stress that it will pull a part of the spine, that it attaches to, out of place, or lock it in place.
When the body posture goes out of normal alignment, i.e., high shoulder, tilted pelvis, head lists right or left, feet that turn outward, this initiates the vertebral segments to get out of line and nerves become pinched or irritated. Now there develops a loss of function in the tissues that the pinched nerve supplies and the body resistance is lowered and disease can occur. The time that has elapsed between muscles first becoming blocked until symptoms of the disease are present, may be as long as 6 months to 5 years. In other words, by the time the symptoms appear, we have been sick a long time.

Now, muscles get blocked and turned off for many structural reasons. It can be due to the cranial stress centers on the skull being turned off. It can be due to cranial bones being jammed, vertebrae out of place; and even bones jammed in our feet, or the feet striking the ground abnormally when walking.

All of the different testing that is done, determines what is turning the muscles and systems of the body off, and determines what corrects them. As the muscles are turned on again, the spine re-balances and posture corrects and body function returns to normal.

The treatment actually consists of the following:

    1. Adjusting the total body structure and misaligned vertebrae back into the place that was pulled out by the muscle imbalance. The muscles act like pumps and levers to balance the body posture and to help create better circulation.
    2. The ligaments that help hold the vertebrae in place must return to normal and regain their holding power.
    3. Many different tests all over the body, especially the head, spine and pelvis, must be performed, in order to turn all the muscles and systems on again.
4. Treatment may involve specific joint manipulation or mobilization, various myofascial therapies, cranial techniques, meridian and acupuncture skills, clinical nutrition, counseling skills,
evaluating environmental irritants and various reflex procedures.

When this is completed, the spine and nervous system will be stabilized and the body will heal itself. If we only adjusted the vertebrae and did not re-balance the muscles, then the vertebrae would keep going out of place again.

During the testing procedure, we touch areas of the head, spine, feet, etc; sometimes we will push on a joint or perhaps stretch it to see if it is normal. For every person's health problems, there is something turned off in the body. All we have to do is find it and turn it on again so that the body can heal itself. Re-balancing the spinal muscles, getting the pressure off the nerves, and turning all the symptoms off again is what gets sick people well.

Keeping everything turned on leads to a healthy happy life and doing the things you enjoy, without disability and pain.