Barefoot Health Kinesiology by Jane Thurnell-Read

I’ve always admired the concept of the barefoot doctor: someone with relevant training and minimal equipment who works with people in their own environment. In Cuba I got a chance to be one! I have been a Health Kinesiology practitioner for some years, seeing clients with a whole host of problems. I'd had lots of success, so it was great to be able to carry on with that success in a much more challenging setting.

I was  undertaking a cycle ride in Cuba in aid of the National Deaf Children’s Society. In the process I raised over £2600 for the charity. Along with 80 other cyclists I set out to ride 240 miles through Cuba from El Abra to Trinidad in 5 days. As I only learnt to ride a bike less than 5 years before, this trip was a major challenge for me. In fact without HK I don’t think I would have ever learnt: as a child  I was frightened of falling off and I discovered that all the old fears were still there when I tried to learn as an adult. I really enjoyed the ride through Cuba and finished with energy to spare. Over a quarter of the cyclists did not complete it because of injury or lack of fitness.  There would have been even more if it hadn’t been for HK.

The first person  I worked on was a pharmaceutical laboratory rep. Sean had  arrived in Cuba with a leg so swollen he could not bend it. He had injured it skiing three weeks earlier and the long plane journey had made the problem much worse. He was sure he was not going to be able to ride at all. I tentatively offered to do some HK on him and he readily accepted. By the next morning Sean  could bend his knee, was virtually pain free and was able to ride his bike the 40 miles planned for that day with the minimum of discomfort. He told everyone what had happened and soon I had a regular “clientele” of people seeking help for sore knees and shoulders, allergic reactions to insect bites, headaches, etc.  Sean completed the whole bike ride easily with a few further mini-sessions and was grateful and amazed at the power of Health Kinesiology.

Although an official doctor accompanied the trip many of the cyclists preferred to ask me  for help when they saw the results I was getting. A GP on the ride asked me for help with her swollen knee: she had been unable to ride and had been travelling in the support vehicle because of the pain. Immediately after the treatment she decided to ride again and completed the rest of the ride without any trouble much to her astonishment. One of these stages involved a very steep section and was the most arduous of the whole trip.

I was personally pleased I knew so many wonderful HK techniques. By the end of the third day and 169 miles in the saddle my bottom was so painful I was in some trepidation at the thought of the final two days.  10 minutes HK work and the pain started to recede much to my relief and the amusement of some of the other cyclists.

I was really pleased with my success rate. I had very limited equipment with me and many of the ‘consultations’ were on the grass verge during a break for water, but even so my success rate ran at over 80%. People were curious to know more about HK and how it worked.  Only one of the riders  told me they had already heard of Kinesiology, so it was good publicity for this wonderful therapy.

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