Reactive Muscle Kinesiology

Have you ever wondered why it sometimes happens that even after doing your best treatment work with a client's stiff and sore neck, and the're really freed up and happy with the results at the end of the session, they come back the next week with the same level of stiffness and soreness they had when they first came in (and you know they have been doing their stretches and drinking extra water)? What happened? How did their neck get so stiff and sore again? Reactive Muscle Kinesiology (RMK) gives you a completely different and more holistic understanding of what is probably going on here; along with some incredibly powerful treatment protocols for helping clients achieve either permanent or much longer lasting resolution of their chronic pain issues.

Reactive Muscle Kinesiology forms one part of the Touch for Health Kinesiology Synthesis developed by a Chiropractor John Thie, in the 1970's, which was adapted from the Chiropractic science of Applied Kinesiology. As with most Kinesiologies, RMK is based on an understanding that Health in the Human Mind/Body/Energy System is the result of a dynamic Balance between 3 main factors: Structural/Postural Integrity; Biochemical/ Nutritional factors; and Mental/Emotional factors. And that imbalance in any one of these dimensions, can manifest as symptoms in any of the other dimensions. And a huge key to understanding where those imbalances in the human Mind/Body/Energy System exist lies at the interface of the "energy" and the "muscular" systems of the body - the soma. That is, every muscle of the body relates to a specific Acupuncture meridian, and related organ and/or gland. So manually testing (muscle testing) those muscles gives a direct bio-readout of the energy balance of the meridians/organs/glands related to each of those muscles (Goodheart discovered these correlations when developing the system of Applied Kinesiology in the 1960s).

This whole concept of muscle testing as giving a bio-readout of the state of a person's underlying energy systems is a more evolved and sophisticated understanding than the old "bio-mechanical" model of muscle testing as can be found in Muscle Testing and Function 1993, (orig. 1943) Kendall, McReary & Provance. In this old model, the explanation of a negative muscle test (i.e. when a client cannot hold or resist against the pressure applied by the practitioner when doing a muscle test on the client), is based on the perception of "muscular weakness", the remedy for which is some kind of resistance training to strengthen the "weak muscle(s)". But what if the apparently "weak muscle" is not actually muscularly weak in a physical sense, but weak in an energetically or electrically "switched off" sense? In this case, any attempt to strengthen an apparently "weak muscle" with resistance training will not be successful until the energetically/electrically "switched off" muscle is "switched back on". In fact any such attempt can actually cause damage to the "switched off" muscle and/or to functionally related muscles. RMK offers the extraordinary technology that enables such energetically/electrically "switched off" muscles to be "switched back on".

A useful metaphor in understanding this concept is the TFH model of the "swinging door". When an imbalance occurs (due to chronic poor postural habits, injuries, poor nutrition, stressful emotional states), the limb can be taken out of its neutral position, and moved towards the position of the support/muscle that has shortened (or contracted/spasmed), leaving the other support/muscle lengthened/stretched and "switched off" or "apparently weak". The usual Massage approach is to apply treatment/deep tissue techniques to the contracted/shortened muscle to reduce the spasm/shortening, so the limb can come back into balance. RMK is the "other side of the coin", and uses various balancing/energetic correction procedures from Osteopathy, Acupuncture, Physiotherapy, Nutrition, and simple emotional balancing techniques, to activate and "switch on" the lengthened "apparently weak" muscle, which will often on its own re-establish the "balance" between the 2 muscles, bringing the limb back to neutral.

Once this "electrical" balance is restored to the energy & Muscular systems of the body, so that ALL muscles are now "locking" or testing "strong" when individually tested, the next step in RMK is to test the involved muscles when interacting with each other (a more realistic measure of their function). What often happens, especially in chronic pain patterns, is that some "Reactor muscles " most likely ones that have been chronically short and tight - will have established an electrical and myofascial pattern that actually has the effect of energetically "weakening" other "Reactive" muscles, which may eventually lead to a re-creation of the original pattern/pain!

For example, the client with the chronically recurring stiff neck - if that client has an office job, and spends a lot of their day sitting in front of a computer, their psoas muscle can become short and tight. The psoas muscle is myofascially connected to the diaphragm, then the mediastinum, and from there to the scalene muscles (intrinsic neck muscles); and from the diaphragm, though the substernal fascia to the hyoid muscles (superficial neck muscles). RMK would confirm whether the psoas muscle is causing these neck muscles to electrically and myofascially "switch off'/become weak - causing the stiffness - and if so, balance and strengthen these neck muscles against with psoas muscles.

RMK is an extremely powerful system and has proven to be effective, even used just on its own, without any other interventions/modalities, in balancing a huge variety of musculo-skeletal pain conditions that Treatment based Massage or NeuroMusclar Therapy would normally be used for. And in fact will double the effectiveness of these other modalities, as RMK is the other side of the treatment equation. Frequently, major postural shifts have been achieved with RMK alone, in just 1 session!

Of particular interest to those in the fitness industry this training has had REPS approval (Register of Exercise Professional) and was eligible for 50 cecs. This has lapsed but will be reinstated when the Course is next held.

What You Will Learn in Reactive Muscle Kinesiology:

• A comprehensive set of resisted isometric muscle tests (Manual muscle testing) for ALL major skeletal muscles/ muscle groups, so you can thoroughly assess their functional and energetic (electrical) integrity.
• The skills to distinguish whether a muscle/muscle group is physically weak, electrically "switched off" (about 95% of all negative muscle tests), or hypertonic, and "testing weak"
• A series of powerful, scientifically proven "energetic" correction techniques, including Neurolymphatic Reflexes (Chapman), Neurovascular Reflexes (Bennett), Meridian Tracing (Goodheart), Origin & Insertion Technique (Cyriax), Spinal Reflexes (Thie), Nutritional Corrections, and some simple yet powerful techniques for balancing Stressful Emotional States, that will give you the extraordinary ability to energetically or electrically "switch on" muscles that apparently tested "weak", and thereby restore "normal strength" to those muscles in a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds.
• The ability to identify hypertonic (Reactor) muscles that interact to electrically "overpower" other muscles (Reactives), "switching" them off.
• The skills to "balance" these hypertonic muscles so that the myofascial and electrical balance between Reactor (hypertonic) and Reactive muscles is restored. (This can frequently result in almost instant reduction/elimination of related musculoskeletal pain, as well as increased functional efficiency).
• An introduction to the Tom Myers concepts of myofascially connected "lines" of muscles (Myofascial meridians) that provide structural support throughout large areas of the body, and their application to Reactive relationships between the muscles.
• Specific clinical applications of RMK for common Postural Distortions.

Eligibility: Physiotherapists, Exercise Rehabilitation Therapists, Personal Trainers, NeuroMuscular Therapists, Treatment Massage Therapists. RMK easily builds on your existing skill base in a way that will elevate your Treatment and Rehab/Exercise Prescription Results to the realm of the elite who consistently get extraordinary results. I personally offer you a 100% $$ back guarantee that you will learn simple yet astounding techniques and strategies that create extraordinary and powerful results in your work!! This is your opportunity to bring the excitement, enthusiasm and passion back into your soft tissue Treatment/Exercise Rehab practise.