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kinesiology and headaches - any successes?

Messages
75
Location
Australia
wondering if kinesiology might be worth a try for the absolutely unbearable headaches/face pain/neck pain that i've been having for over 7 years that just keeps building....running out of other ideas.

my only experience of kinesiology (with an acupuncturist) so far has me at best quite disillusioned. however my mum has a feeling about this (or is so desperate to help she is willing to try anything, or both) and is really encouraging me to find out more. to be honest i can't even figure out quite 'what it is'.

wondering if anyone else has tried this specifically for head etc pain, or could enlighten me a bit more about it. any other ideas to try also most welcome...at the end of my rope here.
 
Messages
13,774
I got sent to a kinesiologist before I knew what it was.

I think most alternative medicine practitioners are genuine people, trying to help their patients, albeit with dubious techniques. This kinesiologist seemed like a cynical rip-off merchant.

The techniques made no sense either. I'd really suggest you not bother - at least with reflexology etc you get a massage.
 

Victoria

Senior Member
Messages
1,377
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Little unsure of your question here.

Kinesiology is a diagnostic tool, not a treatment per sa.

My ex chiropractor (from 1980 - 2000+) used kinesiology or muscle testing to find the "weak" spots or "misalignments" that needed attention in my spine/pelvis/shoulders/neck/head etc.

I've also had a GP use kinesiology to test for food allergies.

Both worked very well & I have no reason to believe that it doesn't "work".

I'll see if I can find my book to give you some more info.

Reflexology also works well. I've had excellent results many years ago. I've only done a one day course in reflexology myself, but have been able to reduce pain from an inflamed gall bladder many years ago, by rubbing the gall bladder point under my foot.

I'd keep an open mind to any treatment that works or is helpful, regardless of the scientific research or clinical trials to back it up.

Just like there are good & bad orthodox western trained medical doctors, there are good & bad alternative therapists.

I go by gut instinct, if I'm not happy with treatment or the relationship with a Dr, I don't go back.

It's as simple as that. I don't care how many letters after his/her name either.

PS I've been to about 4-5 acupuncturists over the last 25 years & have never had one of these use kinesiology on me (that's not to say one wouldn't, just that an acupuncturist usually takes a very thorough health history before treatment & I can't imagine why they would need to use kinesiology).
 
Messages
75
Location
Australia
thanks for the replies...sorry, probably a little unclear with my question because i'm really unclear about the whole concept. wasn't sure if there was a treatment component or not.

my acupuncturist used to use it as a tool to see which remedies and essences my body preferred at what strength if there was more than one option. and also to try and show me how it worked (she is someone i looked up to incredibly and was eager to learn from) however it just never seemed to feel right to me. not sure how much training she had had but was very experienced.

reflexology is something that a friend has told me helped with her migraines when not much else has so maybe that might be worth chasing up. it also makes me think of reiki (which helped me more than anything else for a while at my worst) and the foot positions which i always found really helpful...

thanks again.
 

brenda

Senior Member
Messages
2,266
Location
UK
Hello moonchild

I use kinesiology on myself to find out what foods my body accepts as I have a lot of food allergies. I know it works as I am improving and I also get other symptoms when I have tested negative for something. If you are sensitive to many things it is a good place to start. Please look at the celiac thread.

Brenda
 

Mithriel

Senior Member
Messages
690
Location
Scotland
I go for aromatherapy massage every few weeks. The nice lady does kinesiology too and I let her sort out my meridians every now and then to keep her happy but I don't believe in it at all.

I had terrible disabling neck pain and headaches until I began going to see her. The first massage I had it felt like I had a tight button round my neck undone. It took a few months of treatment until she was able to move my neck as much as it should.

The years of muscle spasm, straining to see when in my wheelchair and the problems with ME had built up. It is the only treatment I have had for my ME that has worked so well.

The massage has helped the rest of my muscles as well and I can walk better with less pain as well.

Mithriel
 

DavidJ.

Senior Member
Messages
111
Location
Germany
yes, kinesiology is a diagnostic tool, not a treatment. one of my naturopaths also does it. she was right one time and found ebv,and that was really important. but then she was wrong several other times when she found lyme and other things that i dont have.
so just try it if its not expensive.
 
Messages
75
Location
Australia
will take a look at that thread brenda - thanks for pointing me in the direction. and might try massage again perhaps (mithriel, when you have it are you on your back or front? major problem with me was that i couldn't take it lying face-down and it just made my neck pain worse). the hit and miss approach isn't really something i have faith in david! did find it really interesting to read about how kinesiology developed though - as an aid for insurance companies to tell if people were telling the truth about injury claims i believe...
 

Nielk

Senior Member
Messages
6,970
Hello moonchild

I use kinesiology on myself to find out what foods my body accepts as I have a lot of food allergies. I know it works as I am improving and I also get other symptoms when I have tested negative for something. If you are sensitive to many things it is a good place to start. Please look at the celiac thread.

Brenda
This sounds very interesting.
How do you use it on yourself?
I go to a chiropractor for my many allergies and sensitivities and she uses a sytem called BioSet.
It's a computerized machine that is hooked up to w metal wand that I hold in one hand while
she points to different trigger points in my other hand to figure out what I have problems with.
I think that this is a form of kinesiology.
But, I would be very interested to find out how you can use it on yourself.

Thanks,
Nielk
 

Mithriel

Senior Member
Messages
690
Location
Scotland
Moonchild, I get a full body massage where I lie on my front to get my back and hips done then I turn over.

The neck and shoulders are done when I am lying on my back. She gently moved the muscles to release the spasms of years, getting the blood flowing to warm up th emuscles and then moving my head passively to the side. As I said I think it took about six sessions or more until she was able to turn my head to its full extent. The relief has been tremendous.

I still sometimes strain when out in my wheelchair. Everyone is so high and I am never facing where I want to be. An ideal situation to move the neck further than it wants to go. :Retro smile:

She taught me an exercise to do to help relieve the pain and it might help you.

Hold your hand against the side of your face as if it was a wall. Now lean into it. The muscles in your neck will tighten and when you release they will relax past where they were before. You can repeat if if you can manage.

Another thing to do is feel round to the top of your spine and the base of your neck for sore knots of muscle. If you press on these hard it can help a bit. It amazes me that the pain I feel in my head can be helped by getting rid of knots round my neck.

Heat can also help. The body gets rid of excess heat by increasing the blood flow in peripheral muscle so a wheat bag or hot water bottle will help get rid of spasms. The nerves too can only carry a pain signal or a heat signal so it can help with pain directly. This works all over the body.

When she did the massage she was amazed to find even my ears were tight :Retro smile: I think it is a strange part of ME/CFS muscle problems. If you move the skin round behind your ears and over your scalp it might take some of the edge off your pain.

I hope you can find something to help. I know how devastating it can be,

hugs

Mithriel
 

willow

Senior Member
Messages
240
Location
East Midlands
did find it really interesting to read about how kinesiology developed though - as an aid for insurance companies to tell if people were telling the truth about injury claims i believe...

Ok interesting.

OTOH a craniosacral therapist I respect and used to see told me it developed from craniosacral therapy, that CST and kinesilogy work from the same energy/vibrations in the body which are strongest in the cranium and sacrum. He wasn't personally interested in using kinesiology. Other practitioners refer to it as ART or autonomic response testing. Bioset etc tap in to the same.

I'm with Victoria, if you feel you and your therapist of whatever specialty have a connection and if a therapy continues to benefit and resonate with you then isn't that a good thing?

It's just like you can see good GPs, chiro's, neurologists etc and bad ones, the person that interprets the therapy and applies that to you is key.
 

DavidJ.

Senior Member
Messages
111
Location
Germany
oh i forgot. i also did some reflexology sessions but that didnt help me at all back in the day. i didnt even feel very relaxed afterwards. i think i should have spent the money for a whole body massage or an ayurvedic massage instead.
 
Messages
75
Location
Australia
appreciate all the suggestions mithriel.

heat is my saving grace - do not know what i would do without wheat bags, my electric blanket and baths. those and valium (the only drug that's ever really helped me) are about the only things that have got me here today. have tried that exercise you mention where you put your hand against your face, physio told me about that one years ago but have never found it's really made a difference to me. this pain feels 'different', it feels like my brain misinterpreting messages that are getting louder and louder and no-one knows how to stop. have one more drug that the neurologist says i can try (can't believe i have tried everything else there is!! scary...) but it's a long shot - will only work if they are atypical migraines. the craniomandibular physio i've been seeing is trying to see if she can get me into the only oro-facial specialist in town and is sure it's a disturbance of the trigeminal-cervical nucleus. fingers xed.

maybe i needed to give the massage more of a go too - not sure how many sessions i made it to but ended up trying other things and stopping to persue them (also she wasn't sure how much she could do not on my back).

david, i couldn't agree more about the importance of the person and the connection and how they interpret whatever therapies they are using. unfortunately i got to the point where acupuncture wasn't helping any more and the effort of getting there was taking too much from me to keep going with it, so not seeing her any more although she's still a dear friend and one of the angels i've met along the way.

hope this all makes vague sense. so much trouble seeing and thinking through the pain that i feel i am 'flying blind' most of the time and just hope it will be readable.

hugs back to everyone - thanks for making me feel less alone.
ps - mithriel, when i read your message in my email it had 'retro smile' dotted through it and i wondered what on earth they were...sounded cute though! now i see.
 

Mithriel

Senior Member
Messages
690
Location
Scotland
I do like a good smiley it saves me having to type :Retro smile:

It does sound as if your pain could be nerve related, much harder to fix unfortunately so I hope these new drugs help.

For some reason I find it easier to cope with pain the further down my body it is. I get bad nerve pains in my feet but they are much easier to put up with than headaches.

hugs

Mithriel