ASSESS THE NEED – SUPPLY THE NEED –

OBSERVE THE RESULT

John Garfield - Cert IV Trainer & Assessor. Dip BT/RM - Principal - College of Applied Myoskeletal Therapy



The title of this article is a quote from Dr. George Goodheart D.C. founder of Applied Kinesiology
and is perfect for the message I wish to relay to you.

We have all heard it said, ‘the body is self-healing’. It is true, given the right environment, in the
large majority of cases the body will heal itself. Take for example acute musculoskeletal pain, in the
absence of soft-tissue tears it often heals within days or weeks. If we are truly honest with ourselves
some of our clients/ patients would have healed without our therapeutic intervention, perhaps be it
a little slower, due to this innate self-healing ability. Other times, especially with chronic pain, the
body may only get so far, then reach a barrier slowing or preventing full recovery. The help of an
experienced and knowledgeable therapist can be very beneficial in this situation.
This innate healing is the supreme healer, and when coupled with our skilled therapeutic
intervention, forms a formidable partnership that ensures those in our care receive the best chance
of recovery. (assuming pathology is ruled out and medical clearance is obtained if indicated).

What I would like to touch on in this article is that this same self-healing, self-correcting ability can
work against us as therapists if a certain aspect is not fully understood and respected.

Do you realize that you can often just be treating a symptom and make a temporary ‘correction’?
For example, as part of your lower body prerequisite treatment you may always address the gluteus
medius muscle. If this muscle is hypertonic, over toned, it will often return to correct muscle tone
within seconds of your direct therapeutic intervention. Job done? If only it was that simple.

Let’s say this gluteus medius is the mechanical lever, that due to its ilium attachments is
responsible for pulling the ilium bone into a posterior rotation, resulting in functional leg length
asymmetry and compromising the sacroiliac joint (sacrum & ilium articulation) and L5 vertebra, along
with all their reciprocal reactions (*Lovett Brother relationship) of occiput, temporal bone, and C1
vertebra respectively, to name just a few of the common flow-on effects.

In the above example your moves on the gluteus medius muscle sets off one such self-healing
mechanism via the proprioceptors, the muscle spindles and golgi tendon organs, relaying their signal
back to the spine and brain along their afferent neural pathways, often resulting in the muscle
returning to correct muscle tone almost immediately. The truth be known this neurological change
to correct muscle tone is often short lived as the body fights hard to sustain the ‘correction’ and mostly
fails, usually only able to sustain the correction several weeks, days, and sometimes only hours before
it is back to its hypertonic state again.

Why?
Because the muscle was only a symptom, no more than just a messenger, and is way down in the
pecking order of causal hierarchy, behind for example, peripheral nerves, nerve roots,
spondylogenic (within the spine) reflexes, dura, TMJ, cranial sutures and associated fascia,
ligaments and joints receptors.


“Most therapists spend 80% of their time treating symptoms”
Dr. Sheldon Deal D.C. Applied Kinesiologist

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 ASSESS THE NEED – SUPPLY THE NEED –
OBSERVE THE RESULT
John Garfield - Cert IV Trainer & Assessor. Dip BT/RM - Principal - College of Applied Myoskeletal Therapy


In fact, we can be tricked at times into thinking the origin of an injury is straight forward, and I give
the example of a rotator cuff injury while playing tennis. What may appear to be a direct soft tissue
injury resulting from being put under load on the court can often be traced back to a primary structural
dysfunction elsewhere in the body. These primary structural dysfunctions leave the person susceptible
to injury, be it originating from a single event or a gradual buildup of minor dysfunctions over time
that the body cleverly adapts and compensates for, that is until it runs out of adaption and breaks
down, often while performing the simplest of actions. “My lower back just seized up on me as I bent
forward to rinse my mouth, I had no prior signs! How can that happen?”. I like to refer to the saying
- ‘The straw that broke the camel’s back’.

The respected and inspirational Dr. John Upledger D.O. was once asked by a student how long a
‘sacral generated’ cranial lesion he was demonstrating in class could be expected to hold. He
responded by saying that if you only addressed the compensation, in this case the cranial dysfunction,
without correcting the origin of the dysfunction in the pelvis it would probably only hold about ten
days to 14 days at most!

I quote further on his explanation addressing the above question. (What happens when you only treat
a compensation) …

“You have liberated the natural corrective force (via addressing a symptom), and now the natural
corrective force is going to try and maintain itself correctly, and it is a question of how strong the
pelvic lesion is as to how long it takes to overcome it (return to a dysfunctional state). Sometimes it
will last two weeks, sometimes it will last a month. Usually it will last at least a week”

Dr. John Upledger D.O. Developer of Craniosacral Therapy

The take-home here is not all corrections are equal! If you are not addressing the source they will
be short lived and their symptoms will return!

My experience is that if you treat the body from head to toe as a pre-requisite before addressing
the primary dysfunctions, which can be seemingly unrelated and far away from their specific
complaint, you have inadvertently activated the body’s natural corrective force, as Dr. Upledger calls
it, bring about often only temporary change and you are not treating in the order that is required for
optimal clinical outcomes. You are treating symptoms.

The treatment of symptoms prior to the cause can create a temporary ‘fix’ that masks the important
anatomical markers or indicators for the duration of the treatment, leaving you no solid re-
evaluation process to confirm whether or not you have addressed the dysfunction at its source.

Examples of these anatomical indicators include misalignment of the ilium, sacrum, occiput and
functional leg length discrepancy. All of which when read correctly lead to identifying primary
dysfunctions.


“Are you seeing your client/ patient presenting week after week with the same anatomical
dysfunctions? If so your ‘corrections’ are not holding and you are probably just treating symptoms”

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 ASSESS THE NEED – SUPPLY THE NEED –
OBSERVE THE RESULT
John Garfield - Cert IV Trainer & Assessor. Dip BT/RM - Principal - College of Applied Myoskeletal Therapy








DON’T BE A PAIN CHASER
Looking at it another way, the muscle could be likened to a light bulb, the peripheral nerves are the
electrical wiring, the spinal nerve root is the light switch. The main power supply into the house is the
spine, and the electrical generator is the brain.
In the light bulb analogy, a light bulb dims and flickers, then blows out. We replace it only to have it
last for a few days until it blows out again. Replacing the bulb again leads to the same unsatisfactory
outcome. It soon becomes apparent we are not addressing the cause and call in the specialist, in this
example an electrician. With their specific expertise, they trace the problem to the wiring at the power
point. They succeeded in locating the primary dysfunction and rectified the problem.

ARE YOU JUST TREATING A LIGHT BULB?
Assess the need, supply the need, observe the result.

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 ASSESS THE NEED – SUPPLY THE NEED –
OBSERVE THE RESULT

John Garfield - Cert IV Trainer & Assessor. Dip BT/RM - Principal - College of Applied Myoskeletal Therapy

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* Lovett Brother Relationship: Developed by Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Robert W. Lovett. He
discovered the reciprocal relationship between certain vertebrae and pelvic and cranial bones. When
one of the ‘brothers’ or reciprocal ‘partners’ is misaligned so will be its partner, with or without pain.
This is a two-way street and either one can be the instigator that takes its partner along for the ride.
Examples are Coccyx & Sphenoid, Sacrum & Occiput, L5 & C1. Pain is not a good indicator of which
osseous segment is the primary cause. In a forthcoming workshop, ‘AMT Applied BodyReading’ you

will learn how to easily detect which of the Lovett partners is the instigator.
Please remember this is just one of the many examples to help you in finding and treating the
cause!

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 ASSESS THE NEED – SUPPLY THE NEED –
OBSERVE THE RESULT
John Garfield - Cert IV Trainer & Assessor. Dip BT/RM - Principal - College of Applied Myoskeletal Therapy


In closing we must also appreciate that no one has all the answers to understanding the human body.
It is only through diligent study, research and application that collectively we strive towards that
illusive perfect treatment.

IN SUMMARY
• Find and correct the cause initially in your treatment. Say to your client/ patient “I am going to
assess you to find a reason for your pain”
• You must be able to justify in your own mind the need and reason for your precise therapeutic
intervention
• Don’t over-treat. Remember most spend 80% of the time treating symptoms. Assess the need,
Supply the need, Observe the result
• Respect that the body is self-healing. Treat at the source of the pain and don’t chase symptoms
• Verify the correction via your anatomical pre-treatment markers
• Address the bodily compensation patterns after the primary dysfunctions have been addressed.
Some of which may have already resolved! This is the true benefit of a whole-body treatment

• The College of Applied Myoskeletal Therapy (AMT) respect these principles and theories.
If you are interested in delving further into this subject please consider attending AMT postgraduate
workshops by contacting myself or Jules Wilson. Primary pelvic dysfunction is addressed in AMT’s
Foundation Workshop – ‘Pelvis & Lumbar Spine’ (3 days duration) which also looks at the occipital
and cervical influences. The next phase to follow on is the e-manual ‘Self-Muscle Testing’ and ‘AMT
Applied BodyReading’ workshop which compliment all AMT workshops where we look at cranial bone
influence on the pelvis, in addition to kinesiology style muscle testing that opens up a whole new
world of assessment and exciting techniques only possible with this acquired skill. It is still in the
developmental stages and I look forward to sharing this valuable knowledge with my colleagues soon.

John Garfield (Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia)
Email: learnamt@outlook.com
appliedmyoskeletal@bigpond.com
Facebook: College of Applied Myoskeletal Therapy
Website: www.appliedmyoskeletal.com.au

Jules Wilson – UK Teacher

Email: learnamt@gmail.com
Facebook: Learn AMT – The work of John Garfield
(please contact Jules for all UK based training)

AMT TEACHING PROGRAM (Descriptions/ Workshops on website)

• Pelvis & Lumbar Spine (3-days)

• Lower Extremities (1-day)
• Upper Torso & Neck (2-days)
• Clinical Gems (2-days)
• Self-Muscle Testing – “The Bodyworker’s Most Powerful Assessment Tool” – e-manual
• Applied BodyReading (2-days)