Kinesiology

What is Kinesiology?

Kinesiology is the study of muscles and movements of the body. It is a system of natural health care that combines the Traditional Chinese Medicine principles, energy balancing, manual muscle testing, and other healing modalities that are used to restore balance in the body. The term kinesiology is derived from the Greek word kinesis that means motion.

How can Kinesiology Help People?

Many diseases are caused by accumulated physical and emotional stress. This stress leads to the imbalanced functioning of various body structures that ultimately lead to physical symptoms. Kinesiology can help people regardless of their age, mental, or physical status, and it can even be used to help some animals. Through a range of gentle but powerful treatments and corrections, kinesiology can prevent the build-up of stress caused by physical, emotional, or chemical stimuli and bring the whole body to its optimal state. Kinesiology takes a holistic approach to health and well-being. It considers different mutual interactions between different parts of the body. Kinesiology uses assessment techniques such as muscle tests that allow kinesiology professionals to pinpoint the exact location of the source of problems that underlie general lack of wellness that cannot be attributed to medical causes. By correcting problems at their source, kinesiology specialists are often able to make them disappear forever.

Whom can Kinesiology help?

Kinesiology techniques focus on identifying and treating causes of illnesses rather than their symptoms. Therefore, the list of health conditions that benefit from kinesiology interventions is long. Some of these conditions include asthma, backache, bed-wetting in children, bladder problems, bowel problems, breast soreness, constipation, co-ordination problems, depression, diarrhoea, difficulty in concentration, digestive problems, eating disorders, food intolerance, frozen shoulder, headaches, hip pain, hyperactivity, jaw tension, joint pain, learning difficulties, low self-esteem,  migraine, mood swings, muscle strain, muscular aches and pains, neck ache and stiffness, nervous problems, sinusitis, sports injuries, tennis elbow, tinnitus, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) jaw problems,  weight problems (over and under) and many other.

Is Kinesiology Safe?

All kinesiology treatments and interventions are safe when practiced and executed by professionally trained staff. Kinesiology correction techniques are gentle and simple and follow energy queues that a person’s own body dictates. However, as in all profession, kinesiology is only as safe as the people who practice it. Unfortunately, many untrained people decided to practice kinesiology, and this fact brings many dangers. Firstly, untrained people can traumatize patients by telling them they have a potentially fatal disease or multiple allergies that require strict diets even when these diagnoses are wrong. Secondly, untrained people can fail to diagnose some severe conditions based on their lack of experience.

Can Kinesiology Prevent Diseases?

Ideally, kinesiology should be used as an essential part of preventive treatments and procedures to help maintain the balance of physical, emotional and energy systems within the body. One significant advantage of kinesiology is its ability to discover and correct energy imbalances before they turn into diseases or their physical symptoms. A separate branch of kinesiology that is mainly concerned with assessing and treating these energy imbalances is called Meridian Therapy. It is a part of a broader group of techniques that are commonly named energy medicine or vibrational medicine.

How was Kinesiology Developed?

In the 1960s, George Goodheart, an American chiropractic doctor began developing a new holistic method for assessing and correcting different body systems. Goodheart’s work was inspired by the work of his father who was a chiropractor interested in allopathic medicine and homeopathy. Goodheart began conducting experiments with muscle testing of a young man who experienced problems with his shoulder. Dr. Goodheart found out that the pain in the shoulder disappeared after he massaged small muscle lumps he could feel beneath his fingers. This discovery led him to conduct further muscle experiments using the conventional scientific methods that existed at the time. Goodheart discovered that when muscles on one side of the body were weak, their opposing muscled tended to tighten, thus further damaging the weak muscles.  In 1964, Goodheart methods laid a foundation for the development of the modern kinesiology practice or applied kinesiology.

In the United States, the practice of applied kinesiology has spread through different medical or chiropractic professions. Regardless of its increased popularity, in countries other than the United States, kinesiology is being widely disputed and disregarded by physicians and other medical professionals due to the lack of comprehensive scientific evidence. However, kinesiology principles are based on the chiropractic knowledge which gives them a solid scientific base. Kinesiology has become a part of the chiropractic academic curriculum.

References:

Bruno, L. C., & Cataldo, L. J. (2012). Kinesiology. Gale, Cengage Learning.

Enoka, R. M. (1994). Neuromechanical basis of kinesiology / Roger M. Enoka. Champaign, IL : Human Kinetics Publishers, c1994.

Hamilton, N., & Luttgens, K. (2002). Kinesiology : scientific basis of human motion / Nancy Hamilton, Kathryn Luttgens. Boston: McGraw-Hill, c2002.

Luttgens, K. e., Weimar, W. e., & Hamilton, N. e. (Nancy Patricia), 1946-, edition. (2012). Kinesiology: scientific basis of human motion. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Education LLC.

Luttgens, K., & Hamilton, N. (1997). Kinesiology: scientific basis of human motion / Kathryn Luttgens, Nancy Hamilton. Madison, WI: Brown & Benchmark, c1997.

Muscolino, J. E. (2006). Kinesiology: the skeletal system and muscle function / Joseph E. Muscolino. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby Elsevier, c2006.

Yessis, M. (1992). Kinesiology of exercise: a safe and effective way to improve athletic performance / Michael Yessis. Indianapolis, Ind.: Masters Press, c1992.

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