Let me first tell you how to pronounce it!. It is Kin-easy-ology … easy! Depending on what part of the world you’re from, a few people also pronounce it Kine-easy-ology.

For those of you interested in history, read on. Others can jump to the next paragraph. The word ‘Kinesiology’ comes from the Greek word kinesis, meaning ‘motion’. Dr. George Goodheart (US Chiropractor) is recognised as the founder of Kinesiology. The original work in this field was done by an orthopaedic surgeon, R.W. Lovett, in the 1920’s. Lovett’s work was further developed and systemized by Henry and Florence Kendall, who published a book in 1949, titled Muscle Testing and Function. This book was my bible when I was studying Physiotherapy! In the early 1960’s George Goodheart developed this work further and combined his research with Frank Chapman (Osteopath) in the 1930’s to develop a system of techniques for improved health by 1968. His work continued to evolve with new discoveries and therapy techniques.

For those of you who are not into details and too many words, Kinesiology is a Complimentary Therapy, meaning that it works together with other health care modalities to enhance therapeutic and wellbeing outcomes. It’s based on the premise that your body knows what it needs to heal itself, just like when you cut yourself or when you’ve broken a bone. Our body already has the knowledge and innate healing abilities it needs to help keep us functioning at optimal levels. Sometimes, due to lifestyle stress, illness, and accidents (just to name a few stressors that challenge our homeostasis / balance), our bodies get thrown-off healthy pathways, causing physical, emotional and other symptoms.

Kinesiology helps re-set your body to achieve homeostasis again. Homeostasis is what our body continuously strives for. It is a term used in science to describe a state where your body’s physiological systems and processes are all working in harmony.

Kinesiology uses muscle feedback (muscle testing) as a stress monitor to find imbalances in the body, combined with the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), energy balancing and other healing/ therapeutic modalities to re-set and re-activate the body’s natural healing capacities.

Kinesiology assessment uses muscle testing to let the body reveal precisely the most important location to focus on to gain optimal balance and dictates its preference for treatment. So, yes, ALL sessions are unique and are about YOU and no two sessions are the same for anyone. It’s not a “One Plan Fits All”-kinda therapy. It is a holistic therapy and experience that looks at the inter-relationship between your physical body structure (muscles, bones, ligaments, organs, hormones, glands, systems etc), your body chemistry, the mind and emotions and energy systems. It looks at the WHOLE person and not just symptoms.

Kinesiology looks at the body as being made up of three main pillars that work together to support optimal body function. There is the “Physical” pillar or our physical structure that includes our body’s anatomical structures like your muscles, bones, joints, ligaments, fascia, organs and body systems. Then there is the “Emotional, Mental and Spiritual” pillar which is about how well we handle stress, our reactions to situations and our beliefs, values and attitudes towards life. The third pillar is our “Biochemical” pillar which relates to our nutrition, hormones and blood chemistry. If any of the pillars are out of balance / alignment, illness and disease can occur. For optimal health and wellbeing, all elements must be in harmony with each other.

Let me paint a picture for you; if you were feeling stressed (mental issue), you could either become short-tempered or extra-teary (emotional reaction) and develop a headache or pain anywhere else in the body (physical symptom). Stress causes emotions (usually negative) which causes a chemical change in blood chemistry, and this altered blood chemistry affects the efficiency of muscles to hold joints in place optimally and hence pain symptoms arise. Our first reaction (or what we are educated to do via the media is to take some medications for a quick fix). A Kinesiologist can help you identify that  the root cause of your headache or other pain is the stress and helps you to address this issue. A Kinesiologist looks into the “Why’s” of your problems.

Want More Information on the History of Kinesiology?

For the Scientific Minds requiring more background reading and information on Kinesiology and its origins and evolution, you are directed to the resources below.

Resources:

1. Frost, R 2013, Applied Kinesiology, Revised Edition, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California
2. Gerber, R 2001, Vibrational Medicine, Third Edition, Bear & Company, Santa Fe.
3. Krebs, C and O’Neill McGowan, T 2014, Energetic Kinesiology, Principles and Practice. Handspring Publishing
4. Thurnell-Read, J 2011, Kinesiology. Life-Work Potential Limited
5. Tourelle M L 2013, Principles of Kinesiology. What it is, how it works, and what it can do for you, Revised Edition, Singing Dragon