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This integrative process was initiated by Dr. Goodheart when he embraced concepts that had been originally developed in the 1930s by Frank Chapman, DO, and Charles Owens, DO.11 Goodheart found lymphatic reflexes to be associated with specific muscles and called them neurolymphatic reflexes. With continued investigation, specific muscles were found to be associated with other factors of health such as specific joint-muscle interactions, vascular reflexes, acupuncture meridians, organs, glands, vitamins, and minerals.
Gradually mavericks in other professions heard about Goodheart’s ideas, now given the name Applied Kinesiology, and saw its usefulness to their own clinical conundrums and began to adopt all or some of these discoveries into their clinical thinking, thereby spreading Goodheart’s ideas beyond the well-trodden path of yet another purely chiropractic system. Applied Kinesiology started its long journey to its place as a multi-professional clinical tool, used by thousands of medical clinicians from around the world.
AK Is Mapping New Territories Around the World
The history of PAK in the individual countries around the world and the healing professions that have been individually affected by Goodheart’s research work will be discussed consecutively:
a) AK Enters Europe through France
b) ICAK-France Revives
c) Applied Kinesiology in Italy
d) Applied Kinesiology Expands Through Europe and Russia
e) Applied Kinesiology in the United Kingdom
f) Applied Kinesiology in Germany
g) Applied Kinesiology in Benelux
h) Applied Kinesiology in Russia
i) Applied Kinesiology in Australia
j) Applied Kinesiology in Japan
k) Applied Kinesiology in South Korea
l) Applied Kinesiology in Canada
Part II (next issue):
2 AK in Chiropractic
3 AK in Osteopathy
4 AK in Functional Medicine
5 AK in Olympic and Professional Sports
6 AK in Dentistry and Nutrition
7 AK in Traditional Chinese Medicine
8 AK in Complementary and Alternative Medicine
The interest and curiosity which the applied kinesiology concept stirred up began to spread over the entire world. Goodheart’s work drew a large following of doctors. The International College of Applied Kinesiology (ICAKUSA) was founded in 1976 to promote the research and teaching of AK. Initially the organization was in the United States with chiropractors as the majority of members. There are now chapters of the ICAK in Australia, Austria, Benelux, Brazil, the Baltic States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the USA. The organization is multi-disciplinary; membership includes medical doctors, osteopaths, dentists, psychologists, and other health care providers who are licensed to diagnose patients. Medical practitioners using AK vary by country. In the United States it is dominated by chiropractors and in Europe by medical doctors. There are more than 3,000 medical doctors in Germany, for instance, who use AK as part of their diagnostic system.12All of these historical milestones of chiropractic make PAK one of the most widely shared techniques in the chiropractic profession’s history.
Applied Kinesiology Enters Europe Through France
Frenchman Richard Meldener graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, in 1972. As soon as his practice was up and running, he decided to invest his energy in organizing workshops in France with colleagues. Along with his colleague Alain Liny from Paris, they created ‘The Chiropractic Team’ to structure continuing education. At that time Major Bertrand DeJarnette (a teacher of chiropractic cranial and viscerosomatic technique in the US, and a mentor to both Dr. Goodheart and his father) and Sacro-Occipital Technique (SOT) was expanding. So they invited the American SOT staff to Paris.
During one of the workshops a colleague, Claude Portal, who had just graduated from Palmer told them about Goodheart who had been trained in SOT and started to develop AK.
In September 1976 they decided to invite Goodheart to France and organized a three-day lecture for him at Paris Orly airport. This was the first time Goodheart lectured in Europe. The quality of this seminar was such that ‘The Chiropractic Team’ decided to invite Goodheart to lecture in Paris every three months.
There was a small band of European chiropractors behind this, including Jean-Pierre Meersseman, Richard Meldener, and Xavier Gillet. The first 100-hour course was organized in 1982 in Interlaken, Switzerland, and taught by Dr. David S. Walther.13 The AIKA (the Associazione Italiana di Kinesiolgia Applicata) started around the same time as the ICAK- Europe chapter. They allowed only chiropractors, dentists, and medical doctors as members.
In 1977 and 1978, David Walther and Paul White were invited to lecture in France. In 1978 Mario Sabella from Sydney, Australia, and Sheldon Sinett from New York City came to lecture in Paris.
Then Meldener asked Goodheart whom he would recommend as a lecturer. He suggested David Leaf, who came to Paris in 1979 and has held January ski seminars in the Alps on a regular basis ever since.
Starting in 1978, Meldener attended the ICAK USA annual meetings: in Chicago, Montreal, Acapulco, Saint Martin (Caribbean), Hawaii and others. This inspired him to study for the AK diplomate exam, which he passed in May 1980.
Eventually ‘The Chiropractic Team’ was transformed into the European Chapter of the International College of Applied Kinesiology.
