Kinesiology - The Dirty Dozen

The science of muscle testing was first developed by an orthopaedic surgeon R Lovett to trace spinal nerve damage – weak muscles often having the same spinal nerve damage. Kendall & Kendall then published a book (Muscle Testing & Function) which caught the eye of a chiropractor Dr George Goodheart. He also studied the work of Frank Chapman – the Chapman reflex points were associated with specific muscle weakness and that when massaged strengthened the associated muscle. He also found the work of Terence Bennett interesting – the applying of light pressure to the Bennett Reflex points often resulted in major improvements being seen.

George Goodheart gathered together a group of chiropractors interested in developing these ideas and they developed Applied Kinesiology and founded the International College of Kinesiology in 1973 (ICAK endorses the use of its skills by licensed health professionals only – so although applied kinesiology techniques are taught to ‘lay people’ they cannot call themselves Applied Kinesiologists)

Dr Sheldon Deal – taught Applied Kinesiology techniques regularly in the UK throughout the 90’s.

Dr David Walther - reputed to be Applied Kinesiology’s most prominent academician.

Dr Alan Beardall – went on to develop Clinical Kinesiology - his legacy was what is termed "Finger Modes" in many branches of kinesiology. Died 1987

Dr John Hughes, Dr Walter Schmitt

Dr John Thie – Touch for Health Kinesiology – probably the most famous of the dirty dozen, he brought applied kinesiology techniques to the general public. Died 2005.

And I think (but may well be wrong!!) Dr Robert Blaich, Avery Ferentz, Lou Obersteadt, Wally Gunn & Ken Mikkelson

But actually the story becomes more interesting from Dr John Thie’s contribution of Touch for Health (TFH). He brought TFH to the UK (and 60 countries around the world) and one of the first instructors then developed Systematic Kinesiology from the TFH synthesis plus some additional applied kinesiology techniques.

Around the same time other originators were developing their own ‘branches’ of kinesiology worldwide and the originators brought their new material to the UK including Three in One Concepts (Gordon Stokes), Clinical Kinesiology (Alan Beardall), Educational Kinesiology (Dr Paul Dennison), PKP (Bruce Dewe) and Health Kinesiology (Jimmy Scott). Alongside these Internationally recognised branches of kinesiology there also developed a number ‘branches’ taught only in the UK eg Systematic, Creative, Optimum Health Balance.
The International Kinesiology College (IKC) now hold the rights to Touch for Health and TFH Instructors are trained in 60 countries worldwide. The International Association of Specialised Kinesiologists (IASK) recognised that TFH was the basis of all the other kinesiologies (other than Applied Kinesiology).

So in the UK we now have a number of courses based on the applied kinesiology techniques taught in Touch for Health plus additional techniques from many different modalities – some courses are protected by copyright but Dr John Thie chose to allow the techniques taught within TFH to be used and taught by everyone although the majority of instructors respect the training programme he put in place and continue to teach under the TFH banner.

We also have a number of innovators (Hugo Tobar, Charles Krebs, etc) teaching new and exciting courses alongside the more established courses – so the choice of training is continuing to expand in the UK and worldwide.

Most of the established training organisations have a model of continuing professional development for instructors and procedures for the development and inclusion of new techniques – this may be an important point when looking for a kinesiology training programme. As a vibrant, ever expanding modality it is important that instructors have an awareness of the most up-to-date developments with kinesiology.

An interesting footnote is Roger Callahan – Thought Field Therapy – as an Applied Kinesiologist, Dr Callahan’s work with meridians and phobias was incorporated into a number of the branches of kinesiology and was much later used by Gary Craig in the development of EFT.

I await any corrections so that I can update my information as I believe it is very important that we have a record of the development of kinesiology and an awareness of where the techniques we use come from – as many aren’t copyrighted it is too easy to forget about the originators.

An interesting website for information on the development of the branches of kinesiology is - this tree is why we use the phrase 'branches of kinesiology'

The KF website has a page explaining the diffferences between the different branches currently recognised by the KF.