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Applied Kinesiology and Chiropractic in Italy
What is clear is that with the growth of chiropractic in Italy there was also the Sanrocco Clinic, which was private and utilized applied kinesiology in its clinical procedures, stood above all other clinics, and was not associated with the National Health Care System.
Leading the Sanrocco Clinic was a charismatic, Belgian DC by the name of Jean-Pierre Meersseman. His professional career and fame grew in the city of Como, Italy, where his clinical proficiency and impeccable professional behavior gained the admiration of even would-be critics. Part of the Sanrocco team in the 1980s and early 1990s were future ICAK-Europe President Piet Seru, Brice David, Alfio Caronti, and later Antonio Gil, Mark Steele, and Kristian Baekkel.
During the 1980s chiropractic was receiving much attention in the press; and VIP’s from all over Europe and the rest of the world would travel to be treated in the now famous Sanrocco Clinic in Italy. Among the names mentioned as patients during this period were billionaires King Hussein of Jordan, arms dealer Adnan Kashoggi, Fiat owner Gianni Agnelli, future premier Silvio Berlusconi, Prince Rainier of Monaco, and King Motubu of Zaire. In the world of sports, over 100 world and Olympic champions have been to Sanrocco; the AC Milan Soccer team, the United States Athletics Team, and many others trained in Como for the month before the 1991 IIAF World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. Of the 41 athletes who trained in Como, 29 were finalists at these IIAF championships. One of the special cases of note was that of Florence Griffith-Joyner, (sometimes known as FloJo) whom earlier had her malocclusion treated by the Sanrocco team and started to set world records soon after that stood for many years.
As the fame of the Sanrocco Clinic grew, there were also many requests by other health professionals to learn what the doctors at Sanrocco were doing and this led to the establishment of an association that would organize courses and bring together members of various health professions to learn applied kinesiology and work together.
In 1988 AIKA (Accademia Italiana di Kinesiologia Applicata/the Italian Academy of Applied Kinesiology) was established by a team of chiropractors from the Sanrocco Clinic in Como, Italy, although for several years before this, the chiropractors from Sanrocco were already collaborating with dentists with applied kinesiology procedures. The first dentist to collaborate was Enrico Zucchi. In this period, the Meersseman Test for dental malocclusion was developed with its publication in many professional journals. Later, other health professionals with qualifications to diagnose such as medical doctors, psychologists, and osteopaths were included. These meetings became weekly occurrences with meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays that would last from 6 p.m. to midnight; and thus, it was decided to form a structure, such as AIKA, to accommodate the growing requests from health professionals wanting to better learn AK. Jean-Pierre Meersseman was elected the first President of AIKA.
The first AIKA courses were given on three occasions on June 17-18, September 9-10, and November 11-12, 1989. There were 127 attendees who participated in these courses and became members of AIKA, who later also became members of ICAK-Europe. The courses were offered every year for the next five years. In 1993 AIKA became an official chapter of the ICAK-USA and had more than 500 members who took the AIKA courses. Piet Seru served as President from 1993 to 2000, followed by Brice David. Unfortunately, in Italy as with government politics, AIKA was not immune to the political climate. During the period around 1996-1997, there was a court case in which a patient sued her dentist for malpractice due to damage after treatment of a malocclusion; and it was decided that as a preventative measure it would be best to stop teaching courses to dentists. AIKA was disbanded several years after, around 2001.
ICAK-Italia
On February 13, 2006, the ICAK-Italia Chapter was officially founded with the following people and their positions: Marcello Caso, President; Jean-Pierre Meeressman, Vice-President, Sergio Veneziani, Secretary; Domenico Vlacos, Treasurer.
Other changes in the leadership of ICAK-Italia:
2007-2010: Antonio Gil, President, Jean-Pierre Meeressman, Vice-President, Sergio Veneziani, Secretary; Robert Morrison, Treasurer. Advanced courses, in this period, were given by Chris Astill-Smith (2008) and John Diamond (2009).
2010-2014: Robert Morrison, President. Dr. Morrison obtained his DIBAK qualifications and organized some 100-hour courses plus advanced seminars by Dr. Schmitt (April 2010 & October 2011), Dr. Blaich (November 2010), Dr. Leaf (March 2012), Dr. Belli (November & December 2012), Dr. Maffetone (March 2013), Dr. Schusterman (March 2014).
2014-Present (2019): Laurent Nappee, President. Advanced courses have been taught by Dr. Stephen Gangemi (March 2015), Dr. Thomas Rogowskey (April 2016), Dr. Alan Jenks (April 2017), Dr. Michael Allen (March and May 2018). During this time Dr. Jenks presented the AK basics with 50- and 100-hour courses.
AK Journal
The AK Journal was published by Castello Editore in Italy, ran for 21 issues from 1998 to 2006, and had a large readership with almost every AK Chapter in the world subscribing all their members as a group. The AK Journal with Antonio Gil as editor at one point was surviving financially due to the enthusiasm of the AK chapters and also paid advertisers such as Nutriwest, Biotics, and Standard Process.
Deciding what material to publish in the AK Journal was the responsibility of the editorial board, which included historic names such as George Goodheart, David Leaf, Sheldon Deal, Eric Pierotti, Hans Garten, Michael Allen, and Chris Smith, among others.
