Health & Beauty: Does Your Body Know How to Heal Itself?

IT sounds like a cranky therapy to say the least – a therapist ‘interrogates’ your body to identify ailments then agree on cures with it.

Yet alternative therapy kinesiology has plenty of fans.

Feature writer KAREN HAMBRIDGE meets a Coventry practitioner and some of the clients who claim kinesiology is much more than New Age hokum.

KEVIN PUGH admits he’s a cynic.

Which is why when he was first introduced to the principles of kinesiology at a weekend course in 1996 he was rather incredulous.

He was keen on the philosophy of helping the body heal itself – but the technique seemed totally far-fetched.

Already an exponent of massage, reflexology and Bowen therapy, Kevin is no stranger to complimentary healing. But kinesiology seemed beyond his comprehension.

“When I first encountered it I thought it was total and utter rubbish, and I’m sure just hearing or reading about it most people think exactly the same thing.”

So after a brief brush with the therapy his interest waned.

But a few months later he returned to kinesiology out of pure desperation. And it was this experience as a client which transformed Kevin’s view.

During childhood Kevin suffered persistent ear problems which, by the time he was 13, had permanently damaged the inner workings of his ears.

As he matured the infections faded away but after 20 years of little trouble he found his right ear was suddenly producing ‘good quality wallpaper paste’.

An operation was planned at Warwick Hospital but no one was able to tell him why the problem had reoccurred or what exactly was wrong.

After trying all sorts of weird and wonderful therapies – from Tibetan bowls, to a herbalist and acupuncture – Kevin was running out of options.

So he turned to kinesiology.

Now the 46-year-old, who lives in Leamington, offers the therapy full time after giving up his former day job as a computer programmer.

He recalled that during an introductory weekend he heard that kinesiology was helpful in aiding post-operative recovery.

Patients who had received the treatment were apparently up and about in no time with scant hangover from the anaesthetic.

He was put in touch with a therapist in High Wycombe – but when he arrived he wondered why he’d bothered.

“I found it incredibly strange, even when I was lying there on the couch. All I could think of was that I was going to have to pay for this and I wasn’t that impressed.

“Then I said to Charles (the therapist) that someone had suggested my ear infection was due to mercury fillings in my mouth.

“He replied ‘let’s ask your body’.

“So he got me to gently bite on my index finger on my left and right hand while he did something on my arm.

“He said ‘it’s not the mercury but it is something to do with the teeth. You have two different materials in your mouth, gold and mercury fillings and mixed with saliva they are making a battery. This is travelling up the nerves through the ear andmaking it appear as if it is infected’.

“He said my body was telling him that the fillings should be removed.”

Putting his faith in Charles, Kevin cancelled his operation and instead booked in with a homeopathic dentist who took out one filling and replaced it with a plastic-based substitute.

As soon as the filling was replaced the ear goo stopped.

“I was gobsmacked, but it all seemed to make sense,” said Kevin.

CHARLES developed and refined a form of kinesiology called Optimum Health which involves using icons to elicit responses from the body through muscle testing.

Using this technique he bolstered Kevin’s immune system and helped him overcome a wheat intolerance.

Soon Kevin was practising muscle testing on himself.

“I love spaghetti but I hadn’t eaten it for six months. One day I was shopping, put my hand on a packet of spaghetti and did the muscle testing, asking my body if I could have it. And it said yes.

“Ideally you are supposed to put the item on your body, but it would be a bit embarrassing lying in the aisle in the middle of a supermarket, so I just touched the bag then did the muscle test.

“From having your arm hanging straight down you bring it up at right angles, so your elbow is still at the side of your body and your forearm is extended,” explained Kevin. “Then you place your other hand on the arm and with very light pressure pressdown on the arm.

“The response, whether the arm moves under the pressure or not, gives you a yes or no answer.”

It was a while before Kevin decided to train as a kinesiologist – about three years after he first started treatments with Charles.

The twice-married 46-year-old undertook all the levels then embarked on study for the Optimum Health-style of kinesiology practice.

He also had to study nutrition, physiology, anatomy, counselling and practice management.

“We believe in the basic intelligence of the human body,” said Kevin. “The human body has the innate ability to heal itself but may require the right kind of assistance to do so.

“We use muscle testing because muscles have a nerve circuit that goes into the spinal column and up into the brain.

“The theory is that this circuit has the ability to be affected by emotions, thought, spiritual matters, illness, the environment, all sorts of things. So we use the muscles as an indicator to interrogate the body to find out what is wrong and how itneeds to be put right.

“And it works, that is the amazing thing. When I first encountered it I thought it was total and utter rubbish, and I’m sure just hearing or reading about it most people think exactly the same thing.

“You really need to try it yourself to understand. And in trying it and challenging it over the years I have come to believe and to see and feel that it actually works.”

For information or to book a treatment with Kevin call 07973 177728. Sessions cost pounds 35.

karen.hambridge@mrn.co.uk

Kinesiology – the facts

THE therapy was born out of the insurance industry. Insurance companies would ask doctors and specialists to carry out motion tests on people making personal injury claims to see if their injuries were real.

THIS method has been combined with the principles and beliefs of ancient Chinese medicine which says the body is connected by a complex network of pathways used by acupuncturists.

ENERGY passes along these pathways and disease occurs when the energy channels are blocked or imbalanced.

KINESIOLOGY uses muscle testing to ask yes or no questions that by- pass conscious awareness and pick up on the disruption of energy channels.

PRACTITIONERS identify imbalances and select suitable treatments based on the answers the body gives.

PRACTITIONERS then use gentle touch and massage techniques to restore balance so the body’s natural healing processes can be implemented.

MANY practitioners are also skilled in other therapies such as homeopathy and nutritional therapy and may use these to assist in balancing.

THERE are around 50 different types of kinesiology but they all use the basic muscle testing principle.

OPTIMUM Health Balance was devised by Charles Benham and is the only form of kinesiology to be developed in the UK. It is said to be a holistic system used to balance the whole energy system of the body.

It is founded on the energetic principles of acupuncture but doesn’t employ needles, instead being based on the use of symbols. The symbols are printed on cards which are placed on the body as the practitioner tests the muscles to find out whereimbalances and problems lie and how these can be alleviated.

The balancing techniques used rely on channelled energy through the hands of the therapist.

For more information on OHB log onto www.ohb4health.co.uk.

case study 1

MICK ROBINSON has always had an open mind about alternative therapies.

The 65-year-old from Canley, Coventry, had previously had a single session with an acupuncturist which cured him of severe dermatitis.

So when Kevin, who he knew through his spouse, suggested he try kinesiology for a troublesome knee Mick wasn’t dubious about going along.

Mick, a fishmonger for Tesco, injured his knee when he came off a motorcycle when he was in his 50s.

It wasn’t a serious accident but the trauma to his knee left him with grinding pain: “It was like two house bricks rubbing together” he explains.

“I knew about kinesiology. My wife ran her own clinic at one point and there were all sorts of people coming in practising all sorts of things.

“I remember one therapist would have two people lying on different couches and when he touched the arm or leg of one of the people the other one felt it.

“I knew these sorts of things worked, however weird they sounded.

“I went to the Abbey Clinic and said to Kevin ‘go ahead then, fix me up’.

“And he did. It’s as simple as that.

“I don’t know how to explain it. But after that session I had no pain whatsoever.”

Mick remained niggle free for six months then found the soreness was beginning to creep back.

He checked in for another treatment and again the pain disappeared.

“It might get worse as time goes on, I don’t know. All I know is when I lie there on Kevin’s couch the pain goes away.

“I’ve had no pain for 12 months now.

“I’m not sure what it is but that man has something in him to heal people.”

case study 2

JOINT problems have plagued single mum Charlotte Hendry since she was eight years old.

Yet her problems continue to baffle the medical community.

Over the past nine years she has endured 12 operations and been told she has the body – in terms of cartilage and joint damage – of a very old woman or a world class athlete.

So the 28-year-old who lives with her four-year-old son, Harrison in Earlsdon, Coventry, decided to turn to alternative therapies.

She tried reflexology, massage, osteopathy and chiropracty with varying success.

“I would get relief with the treatments for a time,” said Charlotte. “Then it was as if my body became dependent on them and I would have to go back more and more.

“It got to a point where I would have to go once a week, but it was time consuming and expensive.”

Then she came across Kevin Pugh.

It was actually Bowen therapy which brought her to Kevin at the Abbey Clinic in Earlsdon.

The treatment – a hands-on manipulation of soft tissue – was remarkably effective at reducing Charlotte’s discomfort, so when Kevin suggested kinesiology as a complimentary therapy to the Bowen she was happy to try it out.

“I hadn’t heard about kinesiology before and it all sound a bit strange but I was willing to try it out,” said Charlotte who is studying for an NVQ in early years and education.

“I have to admit, when Kevin first explained it to me I thought ‘what a load of rubbish’.

“Still when you are in pain you are much more open to new things.”

But Charlotte found the kinesiology did make a difference.

The aches and pains subsided and she needed to take fewer painkillers.

So when young Harrison was due to go into hospital for surgery on his tonsils and adenoids and to have gromits in his ears removed she took him to see Kevin for a session.

“I didn’t know if it would do anything but he had been so poorly I thought if it did help calm him and prepare him for surgery it was worth it.

“When he did have the operation I thought I would have this upset, sobbing child on my hands but he was fine and he was up and about just a few hours after the operation.

“I also took Harrison for a treatment when he was having difficult sleeping – he seemed to be afraid of his bedroom for some reason and was always coming in to me. After the session he slept very happily in his own bed.”

But despite the success, kinesiology remains a complete mystery to Charlotte.

“I’ve tried to explain it to people and they just laugh,” she said. “If I had just read or heard about it, I wouldn’t believe it either.

“But somehow it does make a difference. I’m still a bit sceptical and try and trick Kevin but it’s amazing what information he comes up with.”