Kiso Method

We are so excited, we have something new at Kiso Method! We have reworked our Kiso Method manuals. They are offered in two separate books for Chiropractors and two separate books for non chiropractic practitioners! It’s been a long time coming but they are available now. We have manual one and manual two for chiropractors. Manual one is for the low back, pelvis and thoracic spine. We have manual two for the cervical spine, cranium and the cranial sacral system. The books have been redone with lots of pics to show the force adjustments as well as the non force adjustments and all the other aspects of the Kiso Method as well like motion palpation, symptomatology and the Kiso Method concepts. Chiropractors…you’ll love it!For non chiropractic practitioners, acupuncturists, massage therapists and physical therapists, you’ll love our new books as well. We have updated both books and separated them into two manuals. Manual one, is for “attenuating” the low back, pelvis and thoracic spine. Manual two is for the cervical spine, cranium and the cranial sacral system. We have put in new Kiso Method “FACTOIDS” throughout the book. These factoids are important facts about the Kiso Method that set it apart from other healing methods. Please go to our product page for ordering!Many people have been waiting for the new manuals that are separated into a chiropractic version and a non chiropractic version. This precedes our new video course coming soon for chiropractors. Stay tuned!

Naya and Zachery Rice, acupuncturists and Kiso Practitioners are making a big difference at a health clinic in Nepal. They have been using the gentle Kiso Method treating people at the Vajra Varahi Health Center in Nepal. If you would like to see more or make a donation to this worthy cause, here is the link: http://www.vajravarahihealthcare.org/volunteer/ Here is what the directors of the health care clinic wrote on their website: Acupuncture is not common in Nepal: nor is there a local osteopath, chiropractor, sacro-cranial or massage therapist. All our acupuncture and TCM practitioners, massage and Kiso method therapists are overseas volunteers. Also, the director is asking for volunteers: Volunteers for Vajra Varahi Health Care Are you a qualified acupuncturist, chiropractor, osteopath, homoeopath or massage therapist who would like to gain valuable experience volunteering with us? Do you practice Kiso Method or other gentle manipulation? We are so happy that the Kiso Method is being used in such a needed environment! Thanks so much!

The Kiso Method has been around awhile and many people around the world have learned this technique. We have had people as far away from America as Vietnam, Singapore and Japan, but for some reason Germany and Sweden seem to be very much interested in this technique. Recently we have had two acupuncturists take the Kiso Method around asia starting out in Tibet and they are now in sri Lanka and they have reported that so many people have had the benefit of having the Kiso Method non-force done on them in clinics in the area. Naya and Zachery Rice are the ones performing these good deeds. The became certified Kiso Practitioners before leaving on their trip. They have set out last April for asia and will continue to move through Asia from Tibet, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and eventually Japan. It’s been very exciting to know that this Asian Healing Technique is touching so many people along the way…thank you Zach and Naya! Here is what Naya emailed me the other day…“Thanks craig..i hope you and eika are well. we are well, and have been volunteering our acupuncture and have learned soo much. we have been doing kiso around the world, and everyone that we apply this beautiful technique loves it. when we were in nepal volunteering in a holistic health clinic, kiso method was sooo well received, the clinic director, Nicky Glen from England was very excited about it, and put it on their website to help promote your gentle method, cause chiropractic methods are unknown in Nepal and if any future kiso practitioners volunteer at the clinic, Nicky (a homoeopathist) is very happy to have them on board. You can check out their website: http://www.vajravarahihealthcare.org”. Thanks again Naya and Zach!!

We choose Hilo to practice in because of several outstanding reasons. One reason for settling here is due to the people of Hilo. When we first moved to the island almost 10 years ago, we wanted to set up our practice and lives in Kona. That was the original draw…however, we quickly realized this was not where we wanted to be. We originally ended up moving to Waimea and I bided my time studying for my State board exams. After 4 months and passing my exams, we decided not to practice in Waimea and packed up everything again and moved to the Hilo area. Coming to the big island, we constantly heard the rumor about “Hilo people”. My dog was at a kennel in the Puna area for 4 months in quarantine, so each time we saw our dog Chaka, we experienced the warmth and our second reason for choosing Hilo, the healing power of this area and found the Hilo area to be what we were looking for. Now after being in our practice for almost 10 years, we have learned how valuable living in a down to earth community and experiencing the richness of our friendships that we have made over the years can be.

We are making changes in our practice to better serve the community by lowering our prices for treatments and increasing our services to include Chiropractic, massage and acupuncture at a reasonable price. Our new adjustment price is $35 dollars and our one hour massage price is $50 dollars. We also offer a $5 dollar massage with your chiropractic treatment! We also have other services, hot packs, muscle stimulation for an additional $5 dolllars! So please come in and experience the relaxation we offer!

This post is just a quick blurb about our office in Hilo Hawaii. Our clinic, Kiso Life Healing Center offers chiropractic care using the Kiso Method. It’s come to my attention that many patients at my own clinic don’t know I’m the founder of the Kiso Method. It looks like I need to provide more details to my patients about what the Kiso Method is. For most patients, coming to see a chiropractor, they may not think about what technique you are using, they only want results. But I feel it’s good to let the patient know what you are doing and why you are doing it. For many, it will satisfy many questions, providing answers to their questions about their pain or rehabilitation. This is one of the reasons I wrote the book “Secrets of Healing Back Pain”. When people are interested in the rehabilitation portion of their healing process, many ask what to do so I give them this book. Chiropractic care is scary for some people. They don’t know, seeing you for the first time, if you are going to be rough or too soft or a nice person for that matter. Hopefully, they will feel at ease when coming into my office. I’ve decorated my office in an asian motive and it’s very relaxing. I have the option of providing my patients with force or using a non force technique. We also give our patients the option of hot or cold packs with muscle stimulation for 15 minutes each time they come in. You can also, as a patient at our clinic, have a massage with one of our massage therapists on staff. We offer 8, 15, 20, 30, 60 and 90 minute massages with or without a chiropractic treatment. Our 8 minutes massage is only $5 bucks. Our one hour massage for example, is only $50 dollars. We are in Hilo folks, not Kona or the Four Seasons! Although our massage therapists worked at the four seasons in the past. Our chiropractic session is $40 dollars, muscle stim and hot packs are $5 dollars extra. We provide the utmost in healing services at Kiso Life Healing Center. Give us a call if you have any questions…by the way, we do take many insurances local to Hawaii.

I have recently added an adjusting device for those wanting to learn the Kiso Method. For some, the finger pressure used in the Kiso Method is no problem. It’s not too difficult for most. But for some, the pressure seems hard to sustain when giving the Kiso oscillations. We’ve been in seminars and for what ever reason, some doctors and therapists had a tough time putting enough pressure on the spinal joints to implement an adjustment. For this reason I began researching adjusting devices. I found what I thought was the best choice by far. I have tried different adjusting devices over the years but recently ran into a product that suited my needs 100%. I have chosen the arthrostim. Why? It’s been around for 29 years and the action of the arthrostim is the closest to the Kiso Method oscillations that I’ve ever seen. Also, the action of the arthrostim is smooth and easy on your hands. So even if you don’t have a problem with your hands now, I believe the arthrostim can help you preserve your hands by not having to use your fingers as much to put pressure on your patients while adjusting them. Also, a key factor for me was the more pressure you pressed down with while using the arthrostim, the stronger the adjustment was. This is very helpful because when you are adjusting someone on the Kiso Bench, you can start out with very light pressure and increase the pressure just by pushing into the patient more. You don’t have stop the adjustment process to get more pressure by dialing a switch and then resuming your adjusting process. This makes adjusting with the arthrostim so easy. Also I’ve noticed that your skill level with the instrument exponentially gets better within hours of using this tool. I’m very happy to start carrying this adjusting instrument with me on future Kiso Method Seminars for those you may prefer using the instrument for some adjustments. You can find more about the arthrostim by going to impacinc.net.

Typing your body…
There is an interesting book out there called “The Metabolic Typing Diet”. It’s by William L. Wolcott and is used by lots of practitioners around the world. The Kiso Diet is quite a bit different in the “typing” department especially one big concept. The “sympathetic” body type. In the Kiso Diet we also will type your body but not in the same way as the Metabolic Typing Diet. Remember, the different “typing” catagories focused on sympathetic vs. parasympathetic nervous system types. Well, in my clinic we work with the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems every day. Yes, most folks have a favorite side, but this can be changed! Say we have Joan, who comes in with what we call sympathetic over-ride. Light hurts her eyes, she cannot sleep well, she is tired not from her para-sympathetic nervous system being “on” too much, it’s from her sympathetic nervous system being “on” too much. She has what we call “adrenal burnout”. She may also have anxiety and panic attacks with this condition because she is in a state of fight or flight. Do I want to give her a diet for her sympathetic override or for her constant state of fight or flight?
No, I want to get her out of that state. Because in that state she will never be fully healthy or happy for that matter. You can change the Sympathetic override by manipulating her upper neck and cranium in a very specific manner that will alleviate pressure on her cranio-sacral region and bring back the balance of her para-sympathetic nervous system. Also through stress management and relaxation techniques, we can make her balanced again. If I were to give her a diet high in animal proteins and saturated fats, this would prolong and engrain her fight or flight constitution. But by going to the core of her sympathetic override and constant state of fight or flight, we can give her a diet that will calm her down to go along with “changing” her condition from agitation to rest and relaxation! Diet plays a huge roll in this.

Last year Gilad of Fit.tv and espn asked me to do two seminars for his Fitness Adventure a week long boot camp at Kalani Resort on the Big Island. We had lots of fun and it was a big hit with the participants. The Kiso Diet is a Flexitarian diet in one phase for those who want to eat meat and it has two other phases for those who want to eat vegetarian. It’s basically a plant based whole foods diet emphasizing a low dairy diet with lots of exercise. Much of the Kiso Diet was formulated from the ground breaking book “The China Study”. This year Gilad has asked me to do more seminars on the Kiso Diet and also a seminar on what chiropractic care can do for you. Please visit Gilad’s websites at: bodiesinmotionwithgilad.com or giladproductions.com for more details or click on the picture I found on Gilad’s blog!

The Kiso Diet as a “culture”
The Kiso Diet approaches eating the Kiso Diet way, in a cultural sense. In other words, if you are Italian, or Greek, if you are raised in these cultures, you don’t “think” about every aspect of the food you eat everyday. You don’t count calories or have a hard and fast set of “must eats” at every meal. If you look at cultures and the way that people eat in those cultures, you see that people are “relaxed” about the way they eat. They are used to eating certain foods and combining certain foods together. If they eat lots of breakfast, they’ll take it easy for lunch and allow there digestive system to digest all the food they had eaten. For example, culturally in rural China, they traditionally eat a low amount of meat and use milk sparingly or not at all. They don’t think about it during the day, they just make choices that follow their “culture” of “how to eat” and what to eat daily. Of course, in rural China, they did not eat lots of meat or drink milk because of the availability of those items in their area which helped to “mold” their particular “cultural” eating habits.

The difference is that ALL foods and beverages are all around in every store in America. So in the Kiso Diet, I EDUCATE you on what to eat, what not to eat, and what to choose in your diet on a day to day basis. I educate you based on science and experimentation that the world discovered over the past 20 years. New evidence, new experimentation done by real scientists, getting real results, not scientists persuaded to get an outcome due to the ones paying them(milk does a body good). The evidence speaks for itself. So here goes, we’re on to a new culture in America, a new beginning called The Kiso Diet!

Do I treat animals in my clinic? Yes, I treat dogs almost daily. Hip Dysplasia is very common among large breed dogs. You can help your dog in many circumstances.

With hip Dysplasia, the first factor is subluxation. Which means the joint is out of place. The femur head and the acetabulum are not interfacing correctly which causes pain and inflammation. So adjusting the hip joint helps.

Once the hip joint is adjusted, you have to exercise your dog. No jumping or hard activities are allowed. Just walking and swimming if you have a source.

The third factor is weight! You must keep your dog lean. Too much weight makes hip Dysplasia hard to heal. For the forth factor, you must increase the strength of the hip joint. In order to build the dogs musculature around the hip, the dog must eat extremely healthy, lots of protein, which means a good (and sometimes expensive) dog food.

So to reiterate, we want to 1) Adjust (weekly for a few weeks) 2)exercise 3) weight management 4) high protein diet (he’s a dog and does well with protein!).

Here is some info on hip Dysplasia: When a dog has hip Dysplasia, the joint wears abnormally and the protective cartilage on the surface of the joint gets worn away and the resultant bone-to-bone contact creates pain.

Other things you can do to help:
A. Glucosamine and chondroitin give the cartilage-forming cells (chondrocytes) the building blocks they need to synthesize new cartilage and to repair the existing damaged cartilage.
B. Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Omega-3 fatty acids are often used for the management of the signs of atopy in dogs. Because of their anti-inflammatory properties, some have advocated their use in dogs with osteoarthritis.
C.Avocado/Soybean Unsaponifiables (ASUs): ASU’s are an extract of avocados and soybeans. There is some very promising research that indicates that ASU’s can help protect cartilage, support cartilage repair, and decrease the discomfort associated with osteoarthritis. ASU’s are thought to enhance the action of glucosamine and chondroitin. ASU’s are found in Doctors Foster and Smith Premium Joint Care
D. Hyaluronic Acid (Legend):
Hyaluronic acid is an important component of joint fluid. Including it in the management of osteoarthritis may protect the joint by increasing the viscosity of the joint fluid, reducing inflammation and scavenging free radicals. Most of the research on hyaluronic acid has been done in people and horses, but it may also be beneficial in dogs. You can injected it directly into the joint and it is not labeled for dogs its use must be under the direct supervision of a veterinarian. There is a product called Baxyl you can get at a health food store that can be taken orally.
E. Buffered Aspirin: Buffered aspirin is also an anti-inflammatory and painkiller used in dogs. It can be used along with glucosamine/chondroitin products. With all aspirin products used in dogs, there is a risk of intestinal upset or in rare cases, gastric ulceration. Using buffered aspirin formulated for dogs makes dosage and administration much easier.
Do NOT give your cat aspirin unless prescribed by your veterinarian.
So there you have it. Some guidelines for hip Dysplasia in dogs!