Applied Kinesiology Archives

Salt (and water) For Humans

by Dr. Joel Vickers | Applied Kinesiology, Healthy Eating Blog | Healthy Food Articles

The Human Body Is 70% Water!

Most Americans are dehydrated and don’t know it. In fact, in America, water is the number one nutritional deficiency. The body’s joints, discs, organs, muscles, and skin all rely on water to make them work properly. If you feel the “thirst” sensation, it means you’re already dehydrated. water-and-salt-vickers-2

Dehydration may be the cause of high blood pressure, and blood clots are often the result of thicker blood due to dehydration. Athletes are especially at a higher risk for dehydration and it will impair their ability to perform at peak levels, especially when exercising in a hot, humid environment. Learn how to stay hydrated all day below.

Salt is an important component of proper hydration.

Salt drives water into the cells (think, osmosis) instead of allowing the water to pool outside the cell walls producing swollen ankles and painful joints. Salt is a natural histamine, and pinches of salt followed by small drinks of water will stop excessive histamine production.

The salt used to help with hydration should contain 60-70 trace minerals (e.g. Celtic Sea Salt, Real Salt, or Himalayan Rock Salt) and should be taken in addition to the salt used in cooking and eating food. The salt may be added to the water directly or taken by mouth alone and followed by a small amount of water…just enough to get it down. This is one reason why you might drink salt water.

Here are a few pointers regarding proper hydration:

For every 50 pounds of body weight, drink one quart of water.
For each quart of water consumed, ingest ¼ teaspoon of sea salt.
Stop drinking liquids ½ hour before consuming a meal and startup hydrating again 3 hours after the meal. Your food will digest better because your stomach acid won’t be diluted and neutralized!
For every cup of a caffeinated drink consumed, the body loses two to three cups of water. For every cup of an alcoholic beverage consumed, the body loses three cups of water. Adjust your water/salt intake accordingly.
One of the easiest cures for a hangover: proper hydration!

Dr. Joel Vickers,
Applied Kinesiologist

Read Dr. Vickers Bio

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Triad of Health

by Dr. Joel Vickers | Applied Kinesiology

Health is composed of structural, chemical, and mental factors that should be balanced, forming an equilateral triangle. When a person experiences poor health, one of the three factors of the triad of health is always involved. With severe health problems and chronicity, two or all three of the factors of good health may be contributors. Applied Kinesiology, as well as specific nutritional evaluation systems such as Nutrition Response Testing, Morphogenic Field Technique, and Follow The Physiology Technique enables us to evaluate the triad of health’s balance.

Folllow the physiology graph address all 3 factors of chronic disease

Structural

Those who work with the structural side of the triad of health may include chiropractors, massage therapists, physical therapists, and other bodyworkers. This is a side with which chiropractic has always been involved and is the base of the triangle. Many chiropractors have limited their concentration to the removal of spinal subluxations to improve nerve function. This, of course, has obtained excellent results, and it always will. However, the muscle balancing techniques used by the Applied Kinesiologist can help maintain these chiropractic corrections by turning on the muscles that have been weakened via traumatic events. Many health problems with which the chiropractor and the other therapists must deal with will improve to a higher level when the other two factors of the triad are included.

Chemical

Currently, the chemical factor of health is dominated by “allopaths”
such as Medical Doctors, Doctors of Osteopathy, and Psychiatrists.
Nutritionists perform an important role in health care by concentrating on the chemical side of the triad. The difference between the two is that the medical profession uses chemicals to control body function, in effect over-riding the body’s own autonomic nervous system. Thus, the allopath attempts to control the other two sides of the triangle with substances such as tranquilizers and antidepressants for the mental aspect, and muscle relaxants, analgesics, and anti-inflammatory drugs for structural disturbances. The use of nutrition is directed toward building tissue by providing the basic raw materials for normal body function. After all, our cells are made up of what we eat and drink…not what drugs we take!

Mental

Mental health care has been dominated by Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and various types of counselors. Mental health issues often respond with less counseling and fewer drugs when the care is directed towards the other two sides of the triangle. Insight into the patient’s emotional status may be obtained by evaluating the nervous system using Applied Kinesiology manual muscle testing. Mental health problems can sometimes be improved by nutritional and structural corrections, determined by manual muscle testing.

So…what now?

Are your health problems due to structural, chemical, or mental imbalances? With most people, their problems are caused by a combination of at least two or more triggers. For example, are your headaches due to your poor diet, your automobile accident that happened six years ago, or the emotional stress you feel at home? Or are they caused by a combination of all three stressors?

In a holistic setting, there is a strong emphasis on examining all three sides of the triad of health and directing therapeutic efforts toward the basic underlying cause of a problem. Often a health problem starts on one side of the triad and eventually involves all three aspects. It is important to recognize that any one side of the triad can affect the other sides, both as causative factors of health problems and as therapeutic approaches.

The key is to determine which factor is primary!

As an Applied Kinesiologist, structural balance is readily and easily evaluated via manual muscle testing, which will allow me to help determine the basic underlying cause of health problems. Call The Nutritional Healing Center of Ann Arbor at (734) 302-7575 and ask to be seen by me, Dr. Joel Vickers, and I will do my part in restoring and balancing the physical side of your body through the factors of good health!

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About Applied Kinesiology

Concussions

by Dr. Joel Vickers | Applied Kinesiology

Have you ever fallen down? Fallen out of a tree? Been hit in the head or face with a hard object? Run into another person?

Have you ever been in an auto accident? Motorcycle accident? Bicycle accident? Quad accident?

Have you ever been knocked out? Knocked “silly”? Had your bell rung? Lost consciousness for a few seconds or even longer?

These types of accidents (and much more!) often result in an extreme shaking of the head, often violent, known as a “concussion.” Symptoms of a concussion are known. They are a headache, disorientation, amnesia, poor balance, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, memory loss, fatigue, ringing in the ears, sensitivity to light or sound, slurred speech, and loss of concentration.

Concussion detection is all the rage now, especially with regards to sports. Athletes both old and young are being pre-tested and checked and tested again and again for possible damage. The problem, unfortunately, is not just short-term because doctors know that injured brain tissue degenerates over time and may begin its degeneration months, years, or even decades after the last impacts occurred.

In the movie, “Concussion,” Will Smith played the part of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the doctor who finally documented the long-term traumatic effects of professional football. The name Dr. Omalu gave to this type of trauma is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy(1) or CTE.

The symptoms of CTE are memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, suicidal thoughts, and progressive dementia.

So…who am I and why am I writing this paper on concussions? My name is Dr. Joel Vickers, and I am a Doctor of Chiropractic who specializes in Applied Kinesiology (AK). It would be helpful if you also read my article, “Muscle Weakness From Trauma” to better understand what I am about to tell you regarding concussions and concussion therapies.

At best, the ability to detect a concussion took five years after the final concussive event. However, there are no “cures” or “fixes” for concussions in the medical establishment. There are no new “therapies” or “exercises” that can offset the damage. Those who have gone to “concussion clinics” have left mildly hopeful and yet worried what the future may hold.

It may surprise you that there is hope for concussive events, with a combination of Applied Kinesiology muscle balancing with proper nutritional support tailored to the individual’s needs.

Applied Kinesiologists have, for decades, been turning on and balancing weakened muscles that are from traumas of all types. They also have been realigning the bones that have shifted out of position due to trauma. The correction includes the muscles and bones of the head and neck.

When the muscles of the head and neck are traumatized and subsequently weakened following trauma, this causes an imbalance within these muscles that can cause blood flow to and from the brain inhibited. As well, lymphatic drainage is minimized, and waste products begin to build up in and around the brain tissue. This problem causes the average healing time to be dramatically slower…or it doesn’t take place at all! We see the same long-term results in auto accident victims with many of the same symptoms as concussion patients.

Just as necessary, proper nutritional support assists the body in the healing process, which can take place fully when the muscles and bones are fully functioning and in their proper alignment.

If you or someone you know has undergone trauma to their head and neck with one or more of the concussion symptoms listed above, send them to me, Dr. Vickers at the Nutritional Healing Center of Ann Arbor and let me help their body heal properly and quickly with natural concussion and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy treatment!
Call now at (734) 302-7575.

1. Encephalopathy is a broad term used to describe abnormal brain function or brain structure. (Encephalo= brain + pathy= disorder). The abnormality may be transient, recurrent, or permanent. The loss of brain function may be reversible, static and stable, or progressive with increasing loss of brain activity over time.

Automobile Accidents

by Dr. Joel Vickers | Applied Kinesiology

Nobody is spared trauma during an auto accident.

Every passenger; your significant other, your children, your relatives, are all impacted in basically the same ways by the same directional forces that affect the driver of the vehicle.

Today’s automobiles travel at significantly higher speeds and tend to be safer for the occupants inside. However, auto accidents continue to injure the occupants of these “safer” cars. The speed and direction of the impact are what’s important. Consider the following scenarios:

At just 30 mph, the human head and neck are subjected to over 2,000 pounds of shear force, over-stretching and damaging the muscles of the head, neck, and jaw!

At higher speeds:

If you hit a big tree at 60mph, that’s ~4,000 pounds of shear force directed into the bodies of the occupants of that vehicle.

At slower speeds:

If two cars hit one another head-on, each traveling at only 15 mph, the impact is still 30 mph with 2,000 pounds of sheer force.

Unless you’re Superman or Superwoman, you will be injured. You just may not know it yet. Auto-Accident

Whiplash is the term given to describe the effects of trauma, most often to the head and neck, and primarily during an auto accident. They can often mimic the symptoms of a concussion. Whiplash can also occur from impacts about the head and neck that may occur during a sporting event or from physical abuse.

Symptoms of whiplash can take up to a year (or longer) to manifest themselves. Some of the primary symptoms are neck pain and stiffness with the loss of range of motion, headaches, shoulder or arm pain and/or tingling or numbness, tinnitus, blurry vision, and more.

Did you know that hypothyroidism, TMJ problems, and changes in vision could be from an automobile whiplash?

Walking away from an automobile accident is a common occurrence. Many people do it. But, walking away and being uninjured are extremely rare events. Most people are injured in nearly all auto accidents and don’t even know it. Think about it, was metal bent in the crash? And, if so, are you stronger than the metal of your car? Was the frame bent? Are you stronger than the frame of your vehicle?

Many patients suffer, unknowingly, from the effects of an auto accident that sometimes occurred decades ago.

Don’t you be one of them! Automobile accident injuries are one of my specialties as an Applied Kinesiologist. Please call The Nutritional Healing Center at (734) 302-7575 and schedule an appointment with me, Dr. Joel Vickers, and I will use the AK diagnostic techniques and therapies I’ve mastered to help your body make the repairs necessary to help it function the way it did before the automobile accident!

Oh, My Aching Knees!

by Dr. Joel Vickers | Applied Kinesiology

How many times have you heard someone say that!

Every joint in the body has muscles that cross the joints that (hopefully) are balanced enough to keep them aligned. There are 650 muscles that move 200 bones and hold these bones in their proper alignment. By “proper alignment” I mean they are aligned in such a way that the ends of the bones, i.e., the joints, fit perfectly together.

What happens if they’re not lined up the way your genes dictate that they should be aligned? These misalignments cause pain because they have become inflamed! “Arthros” is a Greek word that means “joint” and “-itis” is a suffix that means “inflammation of”. In other words…

You have arthritis in your knees!

Do your joints need long-term support in the form of tape, straps, and harnesses? Do your joints need anti-inflammatory drugs and steroid shots to dull the pain you are experiencing? Though helpful, these are all short-term fixes to a problem that requires specific treatments. And if left this way, with no muscle balancing done for your knees, you may eventually need your knee replaced! What you need is natural knee pain relief.

Hi! My name is Dr. Joel Vickers. I specialize in Applied Kinesiology, which means…I turn muscles on that have been weakened through trauma! Jolts, jars, falls, and accidents of all kinds can overstretch and turn these muscles off. There are twenty therapeutic kinesiology techniques for chronic pain I can use to turn on and balance these muscles that have been turned off. Once properly turned on, they should stay turned on for life…or until you traumatize and weaken the muscles again, in which case you will need to come in and get them turned on again.

If you’d like to learn more about kinesiology for knee pain, call the Nutritional Healing Center of Ann Arbor at (734) 302-7575

and let me help your knees function the way you need them to function!

Read Dr. Vicker’s Bio

After the Dental Appointment

by Dr. Joel Vickers | Applied Kinesiology, General Health

Did you know that the number one cause of TMJ is dental work?

Your trip to the dentist may have long-lasting effects other than just a cute smile and straight teeth. Your jaw pain, misalignment, headaches, body aches and pains could be the result of that last visit to your dentist.

It’s important to understand that this isn’t the dentist’s fault. They need to get their hands in your mouth to do the necessary work and get the job done. If the dentist has larger hands, then they may need to open your mouth wider, stretching, and consequently turning off muscles in your jaw. If the patient has a smaller mouth, then the patient may need to open their mouth wider to accommodate the dentist and their tools, resulting in TMJ after dental work.

So, what are your options when you have jaw pain after dental work? Bite splints are often used to hold your jaw in its proper alignment. Braces may have to be re-installed in an effort to correct muscular weaknesses and jaw muscle imbalances caused by the dental work. However, this approach to a TMJ muscular imbalance is like keeping your broken bone in a cast forever or using crutches for the rest of your life.

Other therapies include making structural corrections in the bones that make up our head, otherwise known as the cranium. Cranial Therapy, Cranial-Sacral Therapy, Sacro-Occipital Technique, etc. are names of various techniques that have been developed to normalize the movement of these cranial bones. Our cranial-sacral movement is extremely important to help keep our bodies healthy.

These therapies, which include gentle movements that encourage these bones to move correctly, are excellent and needed. They are also a natural way to begin treating jaw pain after dental work. However, it is important to remember that muscles move bones and hold them in their proper alignment…not the other way around. Moving these bones is often only half the therapy needed.

Another approach includes the ability to diagnose and turn back on muscles of the head, neck, and jaw that can become injured and “turned off” through jolts, jars, falls, impacts, as well as dental work.

As an Applied Kinesiologist, I have been trained to perform cranial therapy via manipulation of the cranial bones. I am also trained to discover which muscles of the jaw have been turned off, and then I turn them back on so, they will hold and maintain the required cranial corrections.

Structural imbalances in the cranium and the TMJ mechanism may be linked to such maladies such as (the obvious) jaw pain, headaches, vision problems, neck and upper back pain, as well as (the not so obvious) knee pain, middle back and low back pain, foot pain, as well as digestive problems of all kinds.

If you or your loved ones are suffering from the results of jaw trauma, call me, Dr. Joel Vickers at The Nutritional Healing Center of Ann Arbor at (734) 302-7575 and let me fix your TMJ and cranial imbalances!

Read Dr. Vicker’s Bio