Why is SKART Part of the 21st Century of Health?

By Amanda White

SKART (Structural Kinesiology Acupressure Release Technique) is a cutting-edge new diagnostic and therapeutic technique designed, trialled and used for the efficient management of back, neck, hip and leg pain. The online course teaches safe and simple techniques which, when applied to the body, can identify and treat a spectrum of conditions.

hrough my work at the T Centre for the study of Complementary Medicine, I was approached to run a Chronic Pain research trial for the NHS. This developed into an NHS Chronic Pain Clinic which I ran for 18 years. It was here that SKART was developed, researched and used to help thousands of patients. I had over 80 GPs referring patients to me for a wide spectrum of pain-based issues, in which SKART was fundamental in my ability to locate, identify and treat these skeletal and muscular conditions successfully.

After leaving the NHS, I spent time teaching the technique I used to

practitioners and some doctors before taking time to have a family. With my daughter now grown and at university I want to continue the work I started, by getting the message and power of SKART back out into the world. Over the last year I have written a full qualification specification which has been approved, accredited and endorsed by the International Institute for Complementary Therapists (IICT). And now, been accredited worldwide in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the USA as an approved and recognised technique. We are delighted to be a Platinum Training Provider for them and through the e-learning platform are spreading the word throughout the world.

The foundations of SKART are based on the principals of Meridian therapies which have their roots in the practice of Acupressure and Kinesiology, dating back to B.C. The Great philosopher Aristotle termed the word kinesiology and is often referred to as the “Father of Kinesiology”. Over the years knowledge has been developed on this subject, but most articles and research start from the early 1900s.

In 1964 Dr George Goodheart, an American Chiropractor, extended on this knowledge by discovering that specific muscles of the body when tested could reveal a great deal about a person’s state of health. He concluded that it was not muscle spasms that pulled the spine out of place, but more likely a weak muscle on one side of the body causing a normal muscle opposing it to become or seem tight. Working on just releasing the tight muscle will therefore usually only give short-term relief.

Our bodies are balanced mechanisms with the skeleton being the frame that everything is attached to, including muscles, tendons and ligaments. Each muscle relies on many things to keep it balanced. These include, a nerve to activate it, a blood supply to oxygenate it, lymphatics to clear it and the acupressure meridian to energise.

Kinesiology is taught in over 200 Universities in America as a ‘Kinesiology & Exercise Science Course’. This course looks at sports management, athletic training and physical education at degree, bachelor’s and master’s level. In the UK however, Kinesiology is relatively unknown as the practitioners who use it integrate it into their therapies but often don’t use it by name directly.

structural kinesiology acupressure release technique (SKART)

What can SKART help you with?

It is clear that back pain is a common problem within our society. It is the most common symptom presented to a GP in the UK. Recent back pain figures from the Office for National Statistics show that nearly 31 million days of work are lost every year due to back pain. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) says that lower back pain results in many problems. Whilst back pain can be seen as a universal problem, the effects on an individual level can be great. Reduced mobility can greatly affect quality of life, the ability to work and can cause isolation. The treatment of back pain costs the NHS more than £1 billion a year and the UK economy £3.5 billion a year in lost production. Therefore, the expertise to effectively prevent and treat back pain can be a crucial part of a clinician’s toolkit. There is now a huge body of research on Kinesiology, which has been developed by physicians. Research has found that kinesiology is a tool that enables unbiased and non-intrusive assessments to be made of many aspects of life’s functions and dysfunctions.

Research has also shown that one of the most under-recognised causes of chronic back pain is due to misalignments. Misalignments can occur due to twisting awkwardly, poor sleeping facilities, injury or pregnancy. Misalignments of the vertebrae in the spinal column puts pressure on nerves, causing shooting pain, weakness, numbness, tingling and different leg lengths if the pelvis is involved.

What are some of the areas SKART treats?

Back & Neck Problems that can cause pain, headaches, dizziness, leg pains and restless legs.

“For about 18 months I had been feeling quite unwell with headaches and neck ache. These symptoms were quite severe before treatment. Results showed after just two weeks, and after six weeks I felt totally different. I felt well, and nine months later there has been no relapse.”

Debbie Gifford

“I had been suffering from groin pain and pain down the side of my leg. It was severe, and my mobility was decreasing. After three treatments, the general pain had reduced from level nine to zero. After treatment I’m able to enjoy my gardening much more and no longer use a walking stick.”

Joan Adkins

The Symphysis Pubis is the joint at the front of the pelvis between the pubic bones. This is held together by fibrocartilage, which is supposed to minimise movement and make the structure rigid. But unfortunately, it can become misaligned leading to pain in the groin, hip area, leg length imbalance, leg weakness or giving way, and pain radiating down the outside of the leg. It can also contribute to the destabilisation of the back, causing general back pain as a secondary problem.

structural kinesiology acupressure release technique (SKART)

SKART also helps with pain location and treats:

• Cranial issues which can cause headaches, pressure pain and excess crying in babies. • Lymphatic problems leading to feelings of sluggishness, toxic build up and reduced energy. • Jaw issues leading to pain. • Shoulder problems causing pain, tingling and numbness down the arm and in the fingers. • Ileocecal valve problems causing pains in lower right abdominal area and gut spasms. • Hiatus Hernia issues linked to pain and discomfort under the left ribs, indigestion and nausea.

References

How to Treat and Avoid Low Back Pain by Oliver Eaton listed in back pain, originally published in issue 249 - October 2018 In a Randomized controlled trial, 183 patients with neck pain were randomly allocated to manual therapy (spinal mobilization), physiotherapy (mainly exercise) or general practitioner care (counselling, education and drugs) in a 52-week study. The clinical outcomes measures showed that manual therapy resulted in faster recovery than physiotherapy and general practitioner care. Moreover, total costs of the manual therapy-treated patients were about one-third of the costs of physiotherapy or general practitioner care. - Korthals-de Bos et al (2003), BMJ

“Manual-thrust manipulation provides greater shortterm reductions in self-reported disability and pain compared with usual medical care. 94% of the manualthrust manipulation group achieved greater than 30% reduction in pain compared with 69% of usual medical care.” - Schneider et al (2015), Spine

“Cervical spine manipulation was associated with significant improvement in headache outcomes in trials involving patients with neck pain and/or neck dysfunction and headache.” - McCrory, Penzlen, Hasselblad, Gray (2001), Duke Evidence Report

The Course

SKART is a bespoke online course that has been designed for those who are looking for an exciting and rewarding new career in healthcare. Similarly, for those who are already treating patients and wish to add a new therapeutic and diagnostic tool to their skill set.

The SKART qualification can be done at your own pace anywhere in the world. It is a perfect tool for practitioners to be able to help their clients more. It gives you quick diagnostic tools, treatment methods and a client feedback system so that you and your client can see that the treatment has worked.

What are the benefits of SKART to me?

• You will learn to solve back issues using effective, practical, safe, non-force and gentle correction techniques. • The course’s design means that it is easy to learn and understand, bringing you to the forefront of your profession with these new skills to benefit practice and client health. • With millions of people suffering from pain conditions, you can be the solution. • Learn to use SKART to study the body’s energy systems. To use the muscles as diagnostic tools to access the most appropriate treatment for the body, to find the exact pain site and to be able to treat it so you can clear the pain. • This course is heavily discounted at the moment, as we believe it is a skill that should be open to all. At £199 reduced from £450, now is a great time to learn. • SKART muscle testing is a way to communicate with the body. It is a biofeedback system that talks to the body in a language which the body understands and can respond to and gives real time feedback. It allows us to use the patient’s own body as the research tool to find out what it needs, where to treat, how to treat and gives feedback on whether the correction has held and corrected the problem area, giving patient reassurance, as it is easy to see the difference. • Using SKART to find imbalances and issues through muscle testing helps remove the doubt, guesswork and the hard work of subjective diagnostics. • SKART is non-force and gentler than many other manipulative therapies. It is quick to locate the problem area, needing no gadgets and it can be done anywhere. I have corrected people’s neck problems on trains, planes and by the beach.

Do you want to be part of the 21st century health developments? Be free of pain and change the way you see health, and help others by embarking in a new and rewarding career in the SKART health system?

Amanda White is the founder and CEO of SKART International. Amanda qualified as a nurse (RGN) back in 1989 and shortly after developed back problems due to lifting patients in addition to contracting ME. This subsequently sent her on a journey of discovery. She travelled to China to study basic acupuncture with a group of trainee doctors. On her return, she completed 3 years of training at the British Acupuncture Association in London to become a qualified acupuncturist. Whilst training, Amanda was employed at the Centre for the Study of Complementary Medicine (CSCM) in Southampton, where she worked as a practice nurse, before she moved on to run an NHS Chronic pain clinic for 18 years.

Amanda has been on a lifelong journey into complementary therapy searching for answers and cures. This led her to train as an advanced Kinesiologist, Reiki master, NLP master practitioner and EFT therapist, whereby she cured herself of a number of issues along the way. In order to share her passion and knowledge, she also qualified as a Certified teacher (Cert Ed) so she could start training people in the subjects that she is passionate about. Amanda continues to run a busy private clinic in the heart of the New Forest.

Myofascial Release Treating Leg-length Discrepancies

By Ruth Duncan MFR UK

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here are two general physical reasons that a pelvic imbalance occurs. One is direct trauma or injury such as a fracture or tissue injury to the pelvis, leg or ankle. The other is caused by tissue dysfunction from overuse, misuse disuse or underuse. This is where the client has continually loaded a specific area of their body for too long and created an imbalance or they have not used that area of their body and it has now become weak and dysfunctional both of which can be viewed as an adaptive pattern. Overuse, misuse, disuse and underuse are the most common issues that manual therapy practitioners see where the client complains of back and gluteal pain, piriformis syndrome or sciatic like symptoms.

The Pelvis

The pelvis is a basin-shaped structure at the lower end of the spine and is attached to the sacrum and the coccyx. The pelvis protects the internal abdominal contents including the bladder, rectum and, in women, the uterus. The pelvis is made up of three hip bones, which are joined posteriorly by sacroiliac joints to the sacrum and anteriorly by the cartilaginous pubic symphysis. Attached to the pelvis are muscles of the abdominal wall, the buttocks, the lower back, and the thighs. Each side of the pelvis, called the right and left innominate bone, is made up of three fused bones: the ilium, the ischium, and the pubis. Together they form the acetabulum, which is a cup-like depression ‘ball and socket’ joint for the femur.

Postural assessment

The easiest way to approach an assessment for the pelvis is to first assess the client in standing, without shoes and on a level floor. The landmarks we will assess are:

• Anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) • Posterior superior iliac spine (PSIS)

Overuse, misuse, disuse and underuse are the most common issues that manual therapy practitioners see where the client complains of back and gluteal pain, piriformis syndrome or sciatic like symptoms.

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treating leg-length discrepancies

Standing assessment

Kneel down in front of the client and palpate to locate the ASIS using your thumbs. Move to the back of the client and palpate to locate the PSIS.

Look for:

• The heights on the anterior superior iliac spines in the anterior view, these should be level on the horizontal plane

• The heights on the posterior superior iliac spines in the posterior view, these should be level on the horizontal plane

Write down what you see on a body chart or a piece of paper. From the anterior view, do you see their right ASIS lower or higher than their left ASIS? Take care to make sure that you note their right and left side and not yours. From the posterior view, do you see their right PSIS lower or higher than their left PSIS? If you see the right ASIS lower than the left ASIS, then you should see the right PSIS higher than the left PSIS. If you see the left ASIS lower than the right ASIS, then you should see the left PSIS higher than the right PSIS. If you do see either of these two scenarios, then you have what’s called a pelvic rotation or pelvic obliquity.

If you imagine the sides of the pelvis as two wheels, when you walk, your leg goes forward but the pelvis on that side must roll backwards. When your leg is backwards, your pelvis on that side must roll forwards. So, the two wheels on either side of your body move in opposite rotations to each other in a forward and backward motion as you walk or run. So ideally, when you assess the body in standing, the two ASIS and the two PSIS should be level on the horizontal plane. However, we don’t just run and walk all day. We sit for extended periods of time, we sleep curled up and we do lots of sports and activities where we use certain parts of our bodies more than others and this can create an imbalance to the movement of the pelvis positioning it in a pelvic obliquity where one side has a propensity to be more anterior and the opposite side be more posterior position.

It’s not uncommon to assess the pelvis in standing and find a reasonable discrepancy in the heights of the PSIS and ASIS but the client doesn’t have any pain. No one is perfectly balanced and we all have a body that is functional to our daily needs. However, sometimes the smallest discrepancy can cause excruciating pain and this is something that we as manual therapists can help with.

When one side of the pelvis is stuck in a more anterior rotation than its counterpart, the positioning of the femur changes which is what creates what looks like a leg length discrepancy. The femur is not in the middle of the side of the pelvis, it sits more anterior. When the pelvis is anteriorly rotated, the femur drops down. When the pelvis is more posteriorly rotated, the femur gets pulled upwards. Effectively, an anterior pelvis presents what looks like a longer leg and a posterior pelvis presents what looks like a shorter leg. Of course, the legs haven’t changed lengths but it’s their positioning in the pelvis which makes them look like one is shorter than the other. Additionally, the pelvis is also dependant on the position of the lumbar and vice versa. Often, when a client complains of back pain, they will also have a leg length discrepancy.

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treating leg-length discrepancies

The pelvis can also tilt upwards or downwards on either side like a seesaw which can also present in a leg length discrepancy. If one side of the pelvis is pulled up higher, the leg also comes with the pelvis effectively shortening the leg on that side. Conversely, the other side of the pelvis must drop down effectively lengthening the leg on that side. Some therapists call this an up slip and a down slip and others call it a pelvic tilt. Often, you see both a pelvic obliquity with an up slip and down slip as the pelvis can move in multiple directions at the same time.

When you see an imbalance in the pelvis, you often see other imbalances associated with it such as:

• One hip higher than the other • A lateral shift in the pelvis where they don’t look like they stand evenly on their legs

• They stand with one knee slightly bent and the other hyperextended • One foot turns out more than the other

• Their body leans forward with a lumbar lordosis • They may wear an orthotic and have or have had foot and ankle problems

• They also have one shoulder higher than the other

• And obviously pain in the sacroiliac area, gluteal area and low back.

There are many techniques that we can do to balance the pelvis but here is one simple technique that you can use to remove some of the strain.

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Cross hand release techniques for the pelvis and lumbar.

Assess the pelvis to establish the ASIS which is lower to the floor, this is the functionally longer leg and this is the side we will treat as this side of the pelvis in in an anterior rotation where treating this side will help us remove the tissue strain allowing the pelvis to move back into a more neutral position.

With the client laying supine, we will do a cross hand release technique for the anterior hip to remove tissue dysfunction. Place one hand on the client’s upper thigh with your fingers pointing to their feet, skin on skin. Place you other hand, crossed over or under your other hand, on the client’s lower abdomen, medial to their ASIS with your fingers pointing to their opposite shoulder, again skin on skin.

• with hands crossed, gently contact the tissue.

• allow your hands to sink slowly and gently down into the tissues until you meet resistance (barrier or end feel) - this is the first dimension

• wait at this barrier until you feel a yielding or melting sensation allowing you to lean a little more to the floor. There may be numerous sensations of tissue melting which feel soft and somewhat bouncy • continue with your downward pressure following each tissue change until you feel that your hands have met a firmer resistance, this will be the deeper layers of fascia • maintaining your pressure to the floor, slowly separate your hands until you meet resistance - this is the second dimension. Wait at these 2 barriers for the tissue to yield under and between your hands • as the fascia yields to your touch, you will feel motion under your hands - this is the third dimension

• go with the motion to the next barrier which may feel like a twist, shear or unwinding • continue to hold these 3 components for at least 5 minutes or longer

• always be subtle and sensitive with your hands and never force the barrier

• allow the tissue to reorganise without force.

Disengage from the tissues by gently reducing pressure and removing your hands. (Fig. 3)

treating leg-length discrepancies

Now ask the client to lie on their side with the side your just treated uppermost. Place a small pillow under their waist to keep their lumbar spine neutral. Straighten their upper leg and position it in line with their spine. Place one hand, skin on skin on their lower lateral ribcage with your fingers pointing to their shoulder. Place your other hand, skin on skin on their iliac crest either over or under your ether hand and perform the cross hand release again. (Fig. 4)

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What these techniques do is help remove the strain pattern from one of the sides of the pelvis to create balance. We do these techniques on the anterior rotated innominate as it’s easier to push the anterior innominate backwards. The right side of the pelvis is usually the anterior rotated side due most things being right side dominant however, always check to see what ASIS looks lower than its counterpart and do these two techniques on the lower ASIS side.

Cross hand release techniques form the main component of a myofascial release treatment session. The pressure used to apply the technique varies from person to person as everyone’s tissue tension is different. The skill of the technique is not how much pressure is used, but how much resistance is felt in the patient’s body. The practitioner applies the technique to tissue tension and waits for the myofascial tissue and ground substance (gel fascia) to reorganise which can be felt as a yielding or ‘release’ of tissue tension under their hands.

These two techniques are part of a series of techniques used to balance the pelvis. While they are usually very effective sometimes, tissue tension is more complex than the anterior hip or lateral lumbar and further technique application is necessary. There are also a few different assessments that can be done to maximise on treatment efficacy. Always re-assess their ASIS and PSIS after applying these techniques to see what changes you have made.

Leg length discrepancies are not always about the pelvis. They can be caused by the lumbar, knees, feet and ankles and indeed, there can be dysfunction with all of or some of these structures when viewing the body from a biotensegrity point of view.

Pelvic assessment and balancing and treatment for leg length discrepancy is taught in the Structure Series Part 2 of Integrated Myofascial Therapy presented by Myofascial Release UK in workshops around the UK.

Myofascial Release UK (MFR UK) teaches a variety of myofascial approaches including sustained myofascial techniques, compression and traction techniques, position of ease techniques, direct soft tissue mobilisation, rebounding, unwinding and fascial self-care and rehabilitation approaches. MFR UK also teaches fascial assessment, pelvic, sacrum and spinal evaluation and pelvic balancing techniques using pelvic positioning wedges in part 2 of the structural series.

MFR UK welcomes those with a minimum of a level 3 hands-on qualification such as sports massage, holistic massage, Bowen, Shiatsu, Craniosacral therapy, Thai massage and similar. Also welcome are osteopaths, sports therapists, physiotherapists and chiropractors.

Further details can be found on www.myofascialrelease.co.uk. Email: info@myofascialrelease.co.uk | Tel: 0333 006 4555