The Triangle of Health;
There are many ways at looking at health. In Applied Kinesiology
(AK) we consider health as a Triad. The three legs of the triangle are
Structural, Chemical and Energetic (Mental).
If the sides are all equal than the person will have optimal
health; a shortening or lengthening of any side will be less than optimum. Note that nowhere in this discussion is pain
or lack of it part of health. Because it isn’t. Pain is a natural response to noxious stimuli. It is normal for someone to have pain after
they hit their hand with a hammer, but they are no less healthy. Health is the
optimal function that should have minimal noxious stimuli.
The equilateral triad of health is not unique to applied
kinesiology. The discoverer of Chiropractic, D.D. Palmer, and many others since
have described the triad. The triad
represents aspects that influence health that can be lost or gained through any
side of the triad. Physicians of all
types tend to concentrate their efforts on only one side of the triad, based
primarily on their initial education.
Because of the interplay between the sides of the triad, an examination
cannot be considered adequate unless all sides of the triad are considered.
Structure
The base of the triad is structure, re-emphasizing its
importance in Chiropractic and AK.
Doctors specializing in structure are usually orthopedists and
chiropractors. Direct trauma is often
what brings a patient to a doctor specializing in structure.
The structural part includes the relationship between the
muscles, bones, and nerves, also considered the Chiropractic aspect. However
this also includes all the joints of the body, in addition to the spine. Since we stand on 2 feet, improper movement
of the bones in the foot, and ankle, or the muscles and ligaments that support
them, can cause symptoms in more distant joints. This is due to our ability to
adapt to a problem subconsciously often overstressing other regions in
compensation.
When muscle function is normal, structure is balanced. Structure
deviates away from the weak muscle.
Often there is pain in the strong (spasming) muscle and treatment is
erroneously directed toward this muscle, which is not the cause of the
problem. To evaluate, discover and
treat the cause of the weak muscle regularly resolves pain and muscle spasm.
An important part of applied kinesiology examination is postural
analysis. Postural distortion is body language revealing dysfunction. Postural analysis is much more than just
observing the carriage of the body. It reveals to the examiner improper many
types of health problems. Applied
kinesiology examinations evaluate the nervous system and other systems that
control or influence health.
An applied kinesiologist may find the cause of a person’s
shoulder pain, headache, or back pain coming from foot dysfunction. As
corrections are obtained, the posture improves thus removing strain that may be
causing improper nerve receptor stimulation.
If the problem is acute trauma, such as a lifting injury causing
a sacroiliac subluxation or disc herniation, correction by manipulation or
surgery often successfully concludes treatment of the case. Chronic postural
distortion is body language providing the applied kinesiologist information
during the examination.
What appears to be a structural problem may originate from
another side of the triad. An example is a sacroiliac subluxation occurring or
recurring because of poor support from a weak sartorius muscle due to adrenal
gland dysfunction. This muscle is associated with the adrenal gland in the
applied kinesiology muscle-organ/gland association. The sartorius muscle
supports the pelvis and when weak allows the structural distortion to
occur. Treating the adrenal glands
allows the pelvis to maintain its correction by balancing muscle function. Examining all sides of the triad by applied
kinesiology methods finds these interactions routinely.
Chemical
The Chemical portion of the triad is the nutrition, diet, and
the biochemistry of the patient. We have approximately 5000 chemical reactions
occurring each second in each of the billion cells of our body. Biochemically
we are all unique with our needs dictated by genetics, our internal and
external environments, and all overseen by the nervous system. Even something
as simple as nutrition is very complex. The stomach and digestive portion of
the pancreas begin the digestive process aided friendly array of bacteria
breaks down foods some more and then nutrients get selectively absorbed. If all this goes well, at the proper time
with the proper proportions and of course the proper food entering the stomach
then the body should get adequate nutrition. Nutrition is not an easy subject.
Add to the mix the fact that our foods do not have the nutrient
value they once had and the “All American Diet”, and you will possibly begin to
understand that we are often existing in an increasing nutritional deficiency
status. To determine what additional
nutrients our bodies need above and beyond what we get from the foods we eat is
a substantial challenge. Arriving at
the proper solution is possible from laboratory tests at this time in our
lives, but there is an easier method. Applied Kinesiology is an approach in
which many of these questions can be answered in an accurate, safe, and cost
effective manner.
The allopathic (traditional Medical) physician dominates the
chemical side of the triad. Doctors emphasizing the importance of nutritionist
are rapidly developing more presence in this area. The difference between the
two is that the allopath uses chemicals and other substances to control the
body, while the nutritionally minded doctor uses natural means. Often the chemically oriented physician
tries to control the other sides of the triad by medications, such as muscle
relaxants and analgesics for structural faults or antidepressants for the
mental side. Neither addresses the cause of the problem.
The goal of a natural medicine practitioner is to provide the
raw material the body needs to build healthy tissue in otherwise normal
tissues, or to maintain health. When the nutritionist uses mega dosages of
nutrition it can have effects similar to medicine as in the allopathic
approach, by giving the body all the nutrients it can use most effectively and
efficiently.
Energetic/Mental
This aspect of health is crucial. You don’t have to want to be
healthy to get healthier. And you don’t have to believe something will work for
it to work. But it helps. There are many psychiatric problems that have a
physiological cause.
The power of positive thinking can improve health. The power of
negative thinking can trigger illness and disease. It’s a two-way street. But,
in either case, the mind holds sway over the body. Growing research indicates
that one of the major influences on health is mediated by a powerful stress
hormone.
Cortisol, produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress,
may be the crucial link that explains the strong relationship between
depression and heart disease where altered insulin resistance and blood
pressure to drive the process of heart disease. It also and play a pivotal role
in mediating the mind-body relationship in cancer.
Taken in concert, these and other emerging studies point to the
important role of the hormonal stress response in influencing some of the
leading causes of illness, disease, and death in modern times.
Whether it be depression due to inadequate neurotransmitters in
the brain, irregular blood sugar control, food sensitivities, or one of many
other chronic problems, these chemical and structural causes of “mental”
problems can readily be evaluated using Applied Kinesiology. The depression is actually the condition
moving into another side of the triad of health.
Psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors of various types
have dominated the mental side of the triad. Chiropractors and other physicians
who have a strong “personality dominated” practice often influence this side of
the triad. Many conditions treated by
drugs respond to the balanced approach of applied kinesiology.
Interplay Within the Triad
The sides of the equilateral triangle interrelate with each
other. A constant structural strain will affect ones emotions. Unfortunately,
today’s health care has promoted extreme specialization. This has provided for
good results in highly specific conditions but not necessarily in overall
health in the general population.
Also problems exist when different specialties are unaware of
the other sides of the triangle. This
is commonly exemplified when different health care providers are inadvertently
treating the other sides and not getting at the underlying cause. An example of
this is the use of painkillers and muscle relaxants for structural problems
with a known cause. When (if) a health care provider is able to fix the true
underlying cause of the problem, it should not return!
The longer a condition is present, the more likely there will be
more than one side of the triad affected. Applied kinesiologists often smile to
themselves as a patient relates being treated with an antidepressant for an
unrelenting chronic health problem.
This often happens when “all tests were normal” and the physician
observes the patient’s obvious depression about the long-term problem. Sure,
the patient is depressed after months or years of the continuing problem. Who
wouldn’t be? But the depression is not the cause of the problem. In all
conditions all three sides of the triad should be considered for interplay
between them.