Ki Center Blog

Old school is sometimes the best school for achieving results. If anything can be said about the work I do in the clinic it would have to be that we are results driven. I have been doing natural health care now for 11 years and the best and most valuable tool I have is Kinesthetic body analysis. Also known as Applied Kinesiology, or contact reflex analysis, it is a way for me to determine the imbalances that are present in your body at this time. It is highly accurate and using the body's own innate intelligence, can and will find things that even western medicine with all their technology can't find or just plain miss. And mis-diagnosis is a real problem with allopathic medicine.

It works simply by measuring the energy in the body through and indicator muscle as a "circuit breaker" that will trip when there is an imbalance that the body recognizes as detrimental. It will not tell me what the problem is but where the problem or cause is. As an example, the muscle testing will tell me there is a problem with the liver but not exactly what the problem is. But again using the advanced techniques of applied kinesiology, I can then test with specific clinical nutritional products to find what will fix the problem. I may have five different products that will alter the liver function but only one of them may be the exact fit for your particular problem. It takes the guess work out of knowing what specifically will help you. Be it herb or phytonutrient, your body will tell me exactly what it needs to repair.

Not only will the kinesthetic body analysis be able to determine cause and need from a chemical standpoint, but it is perfect for determining structural problems whether they be skeletal or soft tissue related. There have been many examples of people coming to me for a structural problem that has not been helped through chiropractic care or any other care for that matter, that through kinesthetic analysis, determined the specific muscle involvement that may have not been any where near the site of pain.

Old school or technology based diagnostics? Both are appropriate and can be helpful. But what happens if the technology based diagnostics are not available? How will practitioners determine treatment if all they know is blood work, MRI's, CT scans and the like? Ask the body, as it (your body) is the smartest doctor for you there is.

Every time I hear the term syndrome attached to a disease or illness, it makes me shudder a bit. I know that this generally means that the cause of the problem is unknown, and there will be a new drug available to mask some of the symptoms, but that the root of the problem will probably not be addressed. Such is the case for Restless Leg Syndrome.

There are three major causes of RLS: insufficient calcium to the legs, structural problems affecting the legs, and inadequate blood circulation into the legs.

Calcium Deficiency

On the issue of calcium deficiency, but the body’s inability to digest and assimilate calcium…that is, getting it to the legs. This deficiency begins in the stomach with poor digestion, especially for those over the age of 65. A large majority of this age group also takes antacids which is a set up for serious calcium malabsorption. Combining regular use of anti-inflammatory drugs for arthritis, which further depletes digestive enzymes, you can see why RLS is so epidemic.

As calcium absorption problems increase, the body will begin to calcify ligaments, tendons and cartilage. This is the formula for osteoporosis and arthritis. The usual treatment of choice is more drugs, which mayl cause even more problems with calcium assimilation. As the lower spine suffers, the result can be a narrowing of the spinal canal with pinched nerves that feed the legs. This can cause a constant nagging irritation, often producing muscle twitching, spasms, pain, burning and more.

Bad Drugs

Even if you have enough digested and absorbed calcium in your blood, without adequate delivery (circulation) the needed nutrients are not reaching the legs. If this is the case then we need to look at the heart for possible imbalances to ensure adequate circulation.

So now we have three major contributors to RLS, all of which are easily corrected with a holistic approach. The drug of choice from most doctors is Requip, an anti-Parkinson drug. The listed frequent side effects include: nausea, vomiting, dizziness and melancholy. Occasional side effects: 12-15% of patients experience hypotension, abnormal vision, dry mouth, hallucinations, viral infection and more. If that is not enough, there are reports of falling asleep during activity (driving) with the use of this drug.

So what will be done if you come to the Ki Center clinic for this problem? First, we will evaluate your calcium need. If you are found deficient, then I will use the most useable form of calcium I know of, Calcium Lactate (not from dairy) from Standard Process Labs. If there is also a calcium transport problem, then an excellent product called Cataplex F, which is a form of unsaturated fatty acid, will help your body use the calcium it has and get it to the legs. If there is a circulation problem on top of everything else, then I will test you for the use of Cataplex E2. This nutrient vastly improves the oxygen carrying capability of the blood, which in turn improves circulation.

If a structural component is part of the problem, such as osteoporosis or arthritis, then an aggressive protocol to correct these problems will be necessary. This may include changing your eating habits, life style and exercise routine.

Finally, we will evaluate your for possible digestive problems. If you are not digesting your food properly, then you will have a serious problem digesting and assimilating any calcium products you take. Digestion is one of the easiest and quickest problems to correct holistically.

There is no good reason for RLS to be so epidemic in America. It is simply a symptom of imbalance in one or more of the areas discussed here. Treat the underlying causes of this syndrome and the symptoms go away. Allow six to twelve months to resolve tough cases. Keep up with the protocol and you will have cured an otherwise incurable disease. Incidentally, if you are having trouble sleeping, with or without RLS, try wearing a pair of wool socks to bed. There have been clinical studies showing people will sleep better when their feet are warm; lots of people have cold feet at night and don't even know it. And it is not acceptable to put your cold feet in the middle of your partners back to get them warm!

There seems to be a significant amount of misunderstanding what holistic healing is all about. In a two part article I would like to explain what you should expect from a holistic healing practitioner and the type of treatment you should be getting.

If you take the example of a four legged stool and each one of those legs represents an aspect of your health: chemical (nutritional), emotional, energetic and structural and each of those legs are balanced and strong then you have optimal health. If on the other hand you have an imbalance in one or more of these legs then the stool is out of balance. A true holistic approach will address all of these facets of health to ensure you are getting the best recommendations possible for your body to heal itself. And this is critical: no matter how talented the practitioner claims to be they will not heal you. You must heal yourself. Claims of being able to “heal you” from any alternative care giver is arrogant in my opinion, and false advertising at the least. At the Ki Center we give you what your body needs based on extensive testing to bring your body back into balance.  Our immune systems were designed to be absolutely top notch at achieving and maintaining health. Many factors have served to compromise that system both in humans and animals. More on that later but for now let’s look at the four factors responsible for health and how to make them better.

Chemical Imbalance

The nutritional leg is the nuts and bolts of your body function. It is responsible for all the factory processes that take place inside you. Everything from hormone production to tissue repair requires nutrients, vitamins, minerals and a thousand other factors to keep the body going on a daily basis. Without the proper materials the factory can’t produce the end product that being healthy body function. When I test the body for deficiencies I’m looking for missing or depleted pieces of this chemical mix. Once replaced the body will start the repair process, slowly at first but it will within 2-3 months get back in balance nutritionally and many of those nagging symptoms will go away. I have used whole food nutritional products, glandular extracts, herbs and just plain old life style changes to achieve this. Chemical fractions of synthetic nutrients won’t give you long term results only short term relief if you’re lucky.

Structural Balance

Another leg on our stool is structure. If your frame is out of alignment, in other words your back is out or there is some part of the bone structure not aligned right then you have a structural imbalance. Lot’s of folks go to the chiropractor for regular adjustments. This is fine but if you are not holding your adjustments and you have to get the same thing fixed each time then something else is contributing to your problem. Is it a chemical component? Perhaps you are experiencing stress which is keeping you from relaxing and in turn tightens the muscles which shifts the bone. Nerves branch out from the spinal cord that carry messages for digestion and organ function. If you have vertebrae out of alignment and it is pinching the nerve then those messages can’t get through or are scrambled, possibly causing digestive problems or a host of other problems. And it can work in reverse as well. Chronic digestive problems will cause problems in structure as well. You can see by these few examples that it all fits together like a puzzle and for your sake please choose a health care practitioner that can see the connections.

All of these four legs are connected and are necessary for balance and health. If you address just one of them and ignore the rest you will not get complete healing. A true holistic approach will look at all of the pieces of the puzzle to achieve balance and allow you to heal yourself. If the practitioner you are seeing can’t take care of all of these areas of health they should at least be able to identify what is missing and keeping you from optimal health and make recommendations to correct it.

Next month I will talk about the energetic and emotional aspects to overall health which in my observation is vastly overlooked in helping people to heal completely. At the Ki Center we look at and test for imbalances in all four of these areas of health. In a nut shell what you will get is a way to improve your health by re-establishing your immune system to it’s most effective and efficient level of operation. We do this by giving the body what it needs and individualizing your care to correct the cause of the problem not just chase after symptoms.