ICAK UK

25/08/2026

7 days left to save £275 on the Applied Kinesiology Foundation Course.

Our Early Bird offer ends 1 September 2026.
Book all five weekend modules together before the deadline and the full course fee is reduced to £2,100 — a saving of £275.

The Foundation Course runs in London from October 2026 to February 2027 and provides structured, practical training in Applied Kinesiology for appropriately qualified healthcare practitioners.

Across the five modules, we build from the foundations of assessment and manual muscle testing through to structural, biochemical, neuro-hormonal and advanced clinical integration.

📍 London
📅 Five weekend modules: October 2026 – February 2027
💷 Early Bird total: £2,100
⏳ Offer ends: 1 September 2026

If you’ve been considering beginning or developing your training in Applied Kinesiology, now is a good time to secure your place.

Book at www.applied-kinesiology.co.uk

24/08/2026

Every voluntary movement depends on motor neuron activity.

Motor neurons control muscle contraction by varying both the number of motor units recruited (spatial summation) and the frequency at which they fire (temporal summation). These are fundamental principles of neurophysiology.

However, motor output is not generated in isolation. It is continuously influenced by sensory information from muscles, joints, skin, vision and the vestibular system, together with descending input from the brain.

The result is a constantly adapting system in which movement reflects the integration of multiple sources of information rather than a single pathway.

Understanding this relationship provides an important foundation for functional assessment and clinical reasoning.

This post discusses established principles of neurophysiology and how they relate to functional assessment.

23/08/2026

🥧 Is your P.I.E. communicating with your brain?

It’s a memorable way of describing three streams of sensory information that continually inform the brain:

P — Proprioception: body position and movement
I — Interoception: information about our internal bodily state
E — Exteroception: information arriving from the world around us

For Dr Joseph Shafer, the important question is what happens when that information is no longer being appropriately integrated.

His Brain Recovery Technique (BRT) explores the concept of the brain becoming caught in a persistent “survival mode”, with altered responses to sensory information following physical or emotional stress and trauma.

At his upcoming seminar in Magog, Quebec, Joe will take participants beyond the theory and into clinical application — exploring the “survival loop”, sensory-response mismatches and his approach to identifying and addressing what he describes as the “invisible disconnect.”

The seminar material also explores proprioception, interoception and exteroception and their integration within his model of brain recovery. The course flyer describes practical neural reset approaches intended to help move the system from a state of threat towards safety and healing.

🇨🇦 THE BRAIN IN SURVIVAL MODE
👨‍🏫 Dr Joseph Shafer, DC, DIBAK
📅 3–4 October 2026
📍 Vignoble Le Cep d’Argent, Magog, Quebec

📧 Information & registration:
John Millett — [email protected]

P.I.E. might make you think of dessert — but Joe’s version gives us rather more to chew on. 🥧🧠

22/08/2026

🎧 From podcast conversation to clinical practice…

We came across this fascinating conversation with Ulf Sandström and Martin Brunck, recorded in Germany, exploring emotional trauma states and the potential for self-treatment.

It feels particularly timely to share it now, as Ulf will be joining us in London this September for his two-day course:
Trauma & Communication — Integrating Nervous System Regulation into Clinical Practice

The September course takes these ideas further into clinical practice — exploring practical, ethical and non-invasive approaches practitioners can use with their patients, alongside techniques we can teach patients to use themselves to support regulation, resilience and recovery.

🧠 Trauma and nervous system regulation
🗣️ Communication in clinical practice
🤲 Practical approaches for working with patients
🌱 Self-treatment skills patients can take away and use themselves

📅 12–13 September 2026
📍 British College of Osteopathic Medicine, London

🎧 Listen to the podcast on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4BdbT1AdwHl1xnOkEF6wkT?si=wrkPkVCpQq6yQrxVmOdiLg&utm_source=copy-link

🎟️ Course information & booking:
www.icak.co.uk

We’re really looking forward to welcoming Ulf to teach in the UK for the first time. A wonderful opportunity to learn from his experience and take these concepts from conversation into clinical practice.

22/08/2026

For anyone interested in the role of the nervous system and emotional trauma in clinical practice, this is well worth a listen.

Ulf Sandström was recently hosted by Martin Brunck on the "Functional Medicine of the Presence" podcast, in a thoughtful conversation about emotional trauma and its relevance to how we work with patients.

Ulf will be exploring these themes further at ICAK UK's September seminar, Trauma & Communication: Integrating Nervous System Regulation into Clinical Practice, on 12-13 September at BCOM in London.

A great introduction if you're joining us in September - or simply an interesting listen if this is a subject close to your practice.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4BdbT1AdwHl1xnOkEF6wkT?si=iOwk9D6BQDe3CkMuNRJwMg

Brunck & Maack: Funktionelle Medizin der Gegenwart · Episode

22/08/2026

“There is a universal architecture built into the human skull that borrows its most forceful poetry from functional logic.”

What a beautiful exploration of the extraordinary structural complexity of the temporal bone.

Bringing together anatomy, architecture, function and clinical observation, this is almost as much an ode to the beauty of human anatomy as it is an exploration of the temporal bone itself.

A fascinating read and a wonderful reminder that the deeper we look, the more remarkable the human body becomes.

Well worth taking the time to read in full.

22/08/2026

AK Heritage | Issue No. 5 — Spring 2000

Another fascinating cover from The International Journal of Applied Kinesiology and Kinesiologic Medicine as we move into the year 2000.

Issue No. 5, Spring 2000 featured Daniel Duffy Sr., described simply and rather wonderfully as:
“A man guided by principle.”

The cover also reflects the remarkable breadth of subjects being discussed within the international AK community at the turn of the millennium — from muscle/organ/remedy correlations and muscle strengthening responses to food sensitivities, arterial hypertension and the relationship between body language and mind language.

Once again, the journal included a Special German Section, reflecting the increasingly international nature of the Applied Kinesiology community.

These historic journal covers preserve far more than individual articles. Together, they provide a fascinating snapshot of the people, clinical questions and evolving conversations within Applied Kinesiology at a particular moment in its history.

Twenty-six years later, we can look back, reflect on how ideas have developed and continue preserving this important part of our shared AK heritage.

From the archives. From our history. Part of the heritage of AK.

21/08/2026

Reliability and validity are often discussed together, but they describe different aspects of research.

Reliability asks whether a result can be reproduced consistently.

Validity asks whether the method is actually measuring what it intends to measure.

Both are essential when evaluating any clinical assessment - including manual muscle testing.

Research referenced

• Cuthbert SC & Goodheart GJ Jr. On the Reliability and Validity of Manual Muscle Testing.

• Pollard HP et al. (2011)

17/08/2026

The human body has an extraordinary capacity to respond to demand.

Sometimes, however, what appears to be normal function may be maintained through compensation.

A patient may continue to work, train and live without significant symptoms while changing movement strategies, redistributing load or relying on other available resources to maintain function.

And for a time, that strategy may work remarkably well.

Which raises an important clinical question:

Does the absence of symptoms necessarily mean that function is optimal - or could the system simply be compensating successfully?

Symptoms may emerge only when something changes: demand increases, capacity decreases, another stressor is introduced, or an established compensatory strategy is no longer sufficient.

This is one reason thoughtful clinical assessment looks beyond simply asking “Where does it hurt?”

It asks:
What changed?
What preceded the symptoms?
What has the patient adapted to?
What might they be compensating for?
How are they currently maintaining function?

Importantly, compensation itself is not inherently pathological. The ability to modify strategy in response to changing circumstances is part of the remarkable adaptability of the human system.

Nor should every asymmetry, altered movement pattern or variation from an assumed “ideal” automatically be interpreted as dysfunction.

The clinical challenge is determining which findings are relevant to the individual patient and their presentation.

Sometimes the site of symptoms is central to the problem.

Sometimes it may represent one part of a much wider functional picture.

And sometimes the most useful clinical question isn’t simply:
“What hurts?”
but:
“Why has it started hurting now?”

That distinction is where deeper clinical reasoning begins.

What compensatory patterns do you commonly recognise in clinical practice?

16/08/2026

AK Heritage | Jean-Pierre Meersseman- Fall 1999

Another wonderful piece from the Applied Kinesiology archives.

Issue No. 4, Fall 1999, of The International Journal of Applied Kinesiology and Kinesiologic Medicine featured Jean-Pierre Meersseman on its cover, under the title:
“A Life of Practice, Success and Research.”

The cover itself gives a fascinating snapshot of the breadth of clinical discussion within the AK community at the end of the 1990s, with articles exploring muscle/organ/remedy correlations, foci and field disturbances, and the use of Applied Kinesiology with children with learning disabilities.

It also included a special German section, reflecting the increasingly international reach of the AK community.

Looking back through these journals more than 25 years later is such a wonderful way of preserving the people, ideas and conversations that have shaped the history of Applied Kinesiology.

From the archives. From our history. Part of the heritage of AK.