Kinesiology is a system which is being used to discover which allergens people are unable to tolerate. Sufferer Vicki Green-Steel investigates...

IF, LIKE me, you seem to be allergic or intolerant to a large number of foods or environmental factors, it can be difficult to know what to cut out or avoid.

Feeling tired and lethargic, irritable bowel syndrome and being generally unwell can be signs that a person has an intolerance or allergy to something. One way of finding out the things that you are allergic to is kinesiology.

George Goodheart, an American chiropractor, developed kinesiology in the 1960s. Applied kinesiology is a system that evaluates structural, chemical and mental aspects of health using manual muscle testing with other standard methods of diagnosis.

The therapist using kinesiology finds a muscle that is unbalanced and then attempts to determine why that muscle is not functioning properly.

I went to see Karen Denny-Morley, based in Cadnam, for a kinesiology session. "Kinesiology focuses on the body's energies and tries to find out where blockages are," says Karen. "You can used applied kinesiology to dispel blockages or find out where they are. Using the simple muscle testing it enables you to pinpoint things very easily."

Karen carries out the procedure by holding a tiny glass tube of each of the substances in my navel for a moment, while she asks me to resist the small amount of force she is exerting on my arm which is held above my body. With most of the substances I am easily able to resist the force, but on some of them my arm distinctly wobbles and I can't resist the force she is applying to my arm. In all, there were more than 100 substances, ranging from rice to cigarettes. The session takes about an hour and a half.

When Karen finished the procedure, she had quite a large pile of phials of substances that I was intolerant to.

These were barley, all cow's milk products, eggs, herring, salmon, pollen, lime, tequila, certain moulds and fungi, cat, wool, petrol, potassium nitrate and gas fumes. There were very few surprises there. I knew already that I was allergic to lime because every time I drink something with lime juice in my throat closes over.

I was rather surprised to find salmon there - it is my favourite fish. After testing for allergies, Karen carried out a similar procedure to see if there were any vitamins or supplements I needed.

This worked on the same principle, but if there was a substance that you needed you would experience the muscle weakness. This test showed that I needed a combination of vitamins and minerals to strengthen hair and nails - both have been very brittle recently - and a blend of omega oils and cod liver oils.

Karen says: "Many of my clients have seen remarkable results when they cut out the substances they are intolerant to."

Karen Denny-Morley: 023 8081 2758.