Terry Larder is a naturopath and kinesiologist.
She has a clinic in Leicester and is principal of the Classical Kinesiology Institute.

Kinesiology has grabbed the attention of a lot of people lately. Even though some critics claim it can be unreliable, many with longstanding health problems that have stumped even experienced healthcare practitioners, are turning to a kinesiologist as a last resort. The results can be stunning – kinesiologists can resolve complex, difficult health problems.

Kinesiology is my passion. As a naturopath I couldn’t be without it. Taking a case history from a client is essential, but the rest would be educated guesswork if I didn’t have a means of testing what I had heard.

When I analyse the results of testing muscle response, my patient tells me their own story: which foods are currently upsetting their system; which are the most pressing imbalances needing attention. Kinesiology also suggests the best treatment that I can use.

What is kinesiology?
Physiotherapists and sports therapists are familiar with kinesiology, which means, literally, the study of movement. It was the chiropractor George Goodheart who, in the early sixties, discovered ‘applied kinesiology’. In other words, he learned to interpret the results that he found when he exerted pressure on a limb to test how a specific muscle was working.

He also found that if a muscle wasn’t as strong as the other muscles, he could rub treatment points on the body that acted like switches and turned the muscle back on to full strength. He realised that if he stimulated certain acupuncture meridians, it would also restore a muscle’s strength and that each muscle shared a circuit with a meridian and an organ. This discovery allowed him get to the root of why some people’s hip, back or knee pain was not improving, or why they needed regular adjustments because treatment would not hold.
He found that he was able to identify and correct muscle malfunctions by finding the cause of their distress. This might be a nutritional imbalance, an emotional stress, or an acupuncture meridian imbalance. He could then apply the best treatment for his patient’s underlying problems. Treatments worked really well and ‘held’ a lot longer.

Since Dr Goodheart’s original discoveries, other practitioners have developed kinesiology into the amazing diagnostic tool it is today.

Food sensitivity
Most people who have heard of kinesiology associate it with food sensitivity testing, where it can be really useful as the body can be drained of energy by food intolerances.

Our aim in treating our patients is to uncover the many underlying reasons why a person is so intolerant to their internal and external environment. Using kinesiology, we can identify the imbalances that the body needs dealt with as a priority. We can then find the right type of treatment to resolve the problem.

So we could treat the person emotionally, raise their vital force to induce a healing state or treat the immune and digestive system. We might do this by resolving liver and bowel health problems and finding the best-tolerated and most effective nutritional/herbal/homoeopathic remedies for that individual. What is fascinating is that every treatment is different and it is the patient’s body that calls the tune as layers of stresses are removed, treatment by treatment.

Test vials
One of the exciting breakthroughs that we’ve had in the last 15 years is the use of test vials. These homeopathically-charged vials give us a great deal of information when we place them within the patient’s electromagnetic field, then test their muscle response.
We are often able to check out potential stressors to the body such as candida, beneficial bacteria deficiency, digestive enzyme deficiency, blood sugar handling problems and other imbalances.
The vials are placed on the body one by one. The frequencies from the vials may alter the response of the muscle being tested, which enables us to find out key imbalances that need to be treated.

Kinesiology is based on the fact that body language never lies. Sometimes we don’t understand it, but it is constantly expressing externally what is going on internally.
This divine design is so accurate that the healer within can be approached from without. If one will take time and effort to learn this body language then the doors are opened to many of the body’s mysteries that have been previously concealed. As kinesiologists we can tune into this and help facilitate this healing process. Yes, the body’s responses are without error and it has an innate wisdom. So let it tell us its own story!

Case Histories

Sally
Sally came to my clinic suffering from extremely heavy periods, she was tired all the time, and had totally lost her confidence. Part of her job was entertaining, and she would describe what an ordeal it was for her – to the point that her hands trembled so much she would drop plates. Sally’s treatment wasn’t that complicated.

We found that she had (according to kinesiology testing) an intolerance to wheat and dairy and that her liver was struggling with toxins as a result of a toxic bowel.

So our main aim was to treat her for intestinal parasites and heal a leaky bowel. We suggested that she avoid wheat and dairy.
Within 6–8 weeks she described herself as ‘a different woman’. After having one more exceptionally heavy period, subsequent ones were much lighter. Her energy returned and her confidence soared. She had no more qualms about entertaining and felt more confident than she had in years.

In her case the key imbalances were physical and they were affecting her brain chemistry. Her hormonal imbalance was restored because, once the bowel was no longer pouring toxins into her system, her liver could cope with breaking down the excess oestrogens that made her periods heavy and affected her mood.

Geoff
Geoff was a keen sportsman. He had developed a shoulder problem as a result of his over-zealous use of a squash racquet. This did not deter him from playing, but his shoulder was getting worse and his game was deteriorating – much to his vexation. He wanted a miracle cure!

Assessing the muscles in his painful shoulder suggested that the underlying cause was a problem with his gait (the coordinated way we move our limbs when we walk). His gait had probably got out of balance as a result of continually lunging forward during games. The main treatment was stimulating specific acupuncture points (without needles). He was told to refrain from playing squash for a few days and monitor the results.

A fortnight later, he reported that the pain in his shoulder had completely vanished. However, he admitted that he couldn’t keep away from the squash court and had ignored my instructions not to play straight away. But although his shoulder pain had gone, but he had played a ‘lousy game’ and could hardly hit the ball. Obviously his brain, hand and leg coordination had been reset and his body wasn’t yet used to it.

The shoulder problem did not return for six years, when he appeared in my office to ask for ‘another miracle cure’.

Julie
A similar case to Geoff (above) had a completely different treatment outcome. Julie is a county squash player. She had developed an extremely painful hamstring and calf spasms that would come on whilst playing. She had spent a great deal of money on physiotherapists and sports medicine doctors, but to no avail. Coming to see me was a last resort.

After testing her tight muscles the results showed that the reason they went into spasm was biochemical in nature. When we were able to relax her tight muscles, a challenge was introduced by placing various foods between her lips. When Julie was ‘challenged’ with sugar, chocolate or coffee her hamstrings and calf muscles would immediately tighten up again.

So Julie was asked to avoid these foods totally for a period of time. Her cramping on the squash court stopped completely unless she sneaked a chocolate or two and then it would return.

Julie also suffered from a very unstable pelvis which gave her low back problems. Again she had received a lot of treatment for this prior to her visit. Her back problems were always worse around period times. This problem also turned out to have a biochemical cause – a lack of vitamin E. Supplements of Vitamin E stabilised her pelvis and helped her immensely.

You can contact Terry at her clinic in Leicester –
Turn Around your Health, 81, Lancashire St, Leicester LE4 7AF 0116 266 1962

For more information on kinesiology, check
www.turnaroundyourhealth.co.uk and www.classicalkinesiology.co.uk

First published in 2009

Click here for more articles