John. Dr.B. Good to see you. After the last lecture I attended in Coffs Harbour, you elaborated on
what it takes to restore an individual to "optimal wellness", structurally, chemically & mentally?
Could you expand on that a bit more for this interview?

Dr. Borsuk. Good to see you again John. Sure, I can, but that's a big question. And I'll give you a thorough answer
When clinically assessing an individual on all of these levels, it takes a good set of tools. Being trained with
the use of Applied Kinesiological diagnostics and treatment protocols gives you those tools. About 25%-30%
of my practice is comprised of women with systemic problems. They are suffering from "function
imbalances". And I also see the same in many athletes I treat both competitive and elite of both sexes from
"over-training". The other 35%-40% are individuals who have suffered minor or traumatic injuries.
With the purely structural injuries, the application of manual muscle testing to assess functional neurology I
an awesome tool. Going through the affected joint compartment using this testing, tells you instantly and
accurately what structures are behaving abnormally. Are there muscles shut off? Is there any damage to an
ligaments or tendons? Has the imbalance caused the joint itself to work improperly, and it needs to be
manipulated after balancing the faulty muscular patterns? As a practitioner utilizing these tools you can
quickly get to the job of organizing the involved structures in and around the joint. A.K. (Applied Kinesiology
treatment comprises many and varies manual procedures to get any "inhibited" muscles working and making,
sure, they are working in unison in a "choreographed manner" if you will with their neighboring muscle
partners. I love working with these types of injuries. They are always fascinating. And very gratifying when
you achieve the result.

John. And the other 65%-70% of systemic cases you see, how do you know what is going on with them and
how do you help alleviate their health issues?

Dr. Borsuk. Again, I use the same tools. The manual A.K. diagnostic tools give you an insight into organic
systems and endocrine systems because there exist a muscle-organ-gland relationship in the body
Let me just back up slightly John in order to answer your question fully. A question that needs to be
asked firstly is what are the signs & symptoms that these individuals are experiencing? They are
usually experiencing some fatigue, quite possibly extreme fatigue.
Additionally, they are often experiencing an increase in body fat, bloating (especially after
carbohydrate meals), always hungry (because they are undernourished due to malabsorption of
nutrients) are often moody and irritable from low blood-sugar levels. In addition to all of these
symptoms, they may also be craving and consuming an excess of poor quality
sweets/nicotine/caffeine and other poor quality, high-glycemic carbs in a fruitless attempt to stave
off the cravings and fatigue from their low blood-sugar problem!

Dr. Borsuk. I usually can do quite a bit. But just let me say lastly that an individual with the above set of
symptoms often either already has or is heading in the direction of having high blood-pressure, high
cholesterol, high triglycerides, adult type II diabetes and women in this bracket often exhibit polycystic
ovaries, uterine fibroids and various hormonal disorders and horribly enough; sometimes breast cancer. When
I say heading in that direction, I mean some individuals might not show "positives" when they have their
blood-work done, but they can be exhibiting the same symptoms that very sick individuals exhibit who tests
positively. When you're not showing "positives" on the frank pathology tests but are still fairly unwell; it'
called a "functional imbalance. I'll get to that momentarily.
To help balance them and move them into the direction of optimal health, I need to accurately assess them to
know what the root cause or causes at the bottom of all this, and what are the associated or accompanying,
issues. Using the manual muscle testing procedure that I previously mentioned, I can identify possibly
parasitic, bacterial, viral or fungal infections, or even heavy metal toxicity and nutrient deficiencies which
could be responsible for several organ system problems. But it may not be this at all. It could be an issue with
an individual who has experienced some prolonged "intense" stress. From a relationship problem, home change,
illness to a loved one and many others. This can be extremely taxing on the adrenal glands which are responsible
for so many things in the body. They are your "fight-or-flight" glands but
shouldn't be relied on indefinitely.
When this occurs, it usually leads again to poor food choices, missing meals, a faulty sleep pattern and usually;
a faulty gastro-intestinal system. This then usually predisposes an individual to some liver congestion alone,
with some complicating hormonal changes and some fat gain. It sounds complicated and it is. But the
practitioner must identify what is the root causal factor or factors as I mentioned and work backward
addressing the issues structurally, chemically (nutritionally) and mentally (emotionally). These individual
will need very high-quality nutritional supplementation with supplements you won't find on the pharmacy
health food shelf. It will need to be very specific for the type, dosage and duration.
They'll need to be assessed and treated structurally for any alignment or concurrent injury problems, and be
treated for any associated emotional problems. This is where they are treated with N.E.T. (neuro-emotional
technique) which I'll elaborate on later as well. Now I've only described a couple of scenarios of health"
imbalances but as you can imagine there are hundreds that are all very unique. And need a unique approach
One needs to be a generalist, not a specialist. I'm always left humbled!

John. Dr. B. Since you suggest there are hundreds of varying systemic cases or imbalances, could
you possibly take us through and describe how you would approach helping an individual in a case
you see more often? A real typical case that maybe you see on a monthly basis?

John. And the other 65%-70% of systemic cases you see, how do you know what is going on with them and
how do you help alleviate their health issues?

Dr. Borsuk. Sure. I'll give you a typical overview of what I see clinically on a weekly basis. I'm going to talk
you through what I describe as a "generally unwell" female for this exercise. This woman would probably be
in her mid-thirties to her mid-forties. She may or may not have been a competitive athlete in her younger
years. She is married, has three children and works a fairly stressful job to help her husband make ends meet
She is a "super-mom". She didn't start her family until her mid to late thirties. And was on the contraceptive
"pill" from 16 years of age until her mid-thirties. So, in reality, she had been ingesting synthetic estrogen for
between 15-20 years to manipulate her fertility cycle. She notices she has gained quite a bit of weight (really
fat) over the last decade. The synthetic estrogen in the "pill" is classic for depressing the thyroid gland an
slowing the metabolic rate which governs how many calories you bum daily for energy. With that slower
metabolic rate, she now stores a larger percentage of what she eats. She loves to eat chicken (more synthetic
estrogen and anti-biotics unless it's organic & hormone free) 3-4 times a week.
With the stresses of being the mother of three and holding down a demanding job, she is literally exhausted
She reaches for and consumes large amounts of caffeine and sugar and poor quality high-glycemic
carbohydrates. Cakes, cookies, brownies, muffins...You get the picture. All of these sugars, stimulants and
carbs raise her insulin levels; insulin is a storage hormone which additionally along with the sluggish thyroid
causes her to store more body fat. And these poor-quality carbs contain high amounts of "trans fats" which are
not found in nature. They are created by heating poor quality oils and forcing hydrogen gas through there
which changes them chemically making them very stable and giving the poor-quality carb product a very Ion,
shelf-life. Good for sales. Not good for bodies. Why am I mentioning this? Because these "trans fats" create
havoc for the liver and this stressed-out mother of three starts to experience some uncomfortable bowel
patterns, usually constipation and a host of other symptoms from her now congested liver.
Now that her liver is struggling to detoxify her bowel, she now starts to experience some hormone
imbalances. The physical, chemical and emotional stresses of her lifestyle now start to affect her adrenal
glands which become tired and depleted and help to add more pressure on the faulty endocrine system. It's not
that she isn't intelligent, it's just that these cravings she has for these snack foods she is consuming is the
body's attempt to "quick fix" the low blood-sugar levels. It's a temporary "quick fix" with a "yo-yo" effect
Her bowel now is in an opportunistic phase. She is ripe for fungal over-growth especially with the past anti-biotics
in high amounts in chicken but also in other meats and milk and cheese.
She also might be someone who would be taking a lot of anti-biotics in pill form whenever she gets an inkling,
of a cold because she can't afford to get sick. This all leads to a vicious cycle of not digesting and absorbing,
nutrients properly. More fatigue. And I'm hoping you and the audience are getting the picture. She's tired
heavier, stressed and depressed. She wants and needs help! And once helped, needs some good education
Some good books and websites so she can start looking after herself which in tum helps her take care of he
family!
What you must do for her is just what I described before. Identify the root causal factors involved with he
organ & glandular systems which are stressed and depleted. Through manual muscle testing with muscle
related to these organs & glands you can accurately identify which are involved and if there are any infection
present. You must then in order of priority intervene by stimulating certain reflexes which will help get the
organs & glands involved function better and supplementing nutritionally like I mentioned earlier. It will not
need to be indefinite, and some supplementation could "over-stimulate" the organs & glands involved. So
again, find a practitioner that can do this properly.
This super-mom would need along with other nutritional supplementation a gentle liver cleanse an
detoxification to flush out the remaining synthetic estrogen anti-biotics, and any fungal overgrowth if present
If not, it's like painting over rust. You have to get rid of the "offenders" if you want the permanent fix. As
mentioned earlier with supplementation: they must be of high quality, the right dosage and duration. The
individual is not on anything indefinitely. And the practitioner ultimately wants to see a neutral test for the
substance or substances being used nutritionally speaking. This means you no longer need it.
The involved organs or glands become balanced and healthy, and the body reaches homeostasis. You then ca
just check the individual maybe monthly for a period of time to make sure they're traveling well with no
recidivism. Your job is to get them off your table and help all the others out there that also need your help. So
you have to look toward finding a practitioner who is trained in these procedures and can accurately assess
your total body thoroughly and holistically.

John. Is there anything else you want to talk about regarding this type of patient?

Dr. Borsuk. Yeah...What I didn't mention that I'd like to touch upon briefly is something else the above
described mother probably had an issue with. And that is what we call "carbohydrate intolerance".
There are many good books and references on the subject and I'll leave some book titles and
references on my website. Barry Sears has many good books on the subject. Several of his books
basically explain how consuming high amounts of refined, processed, high-glycemic carbohydrates
leads to excessive levels of insulin secretion and this is ultimately linked to obesity, adult onset
diabetes, stroke and some cancers. Carbohydrate intolerance is often seen in the women I treat
but many men suffer from this as well. The women I typically see with this are usually estrogen
dominant which I'll elaborate on in a moment.
Firstly, carbohydrate intolerance is an issue whereby the body has a difficult time digesting varying,
carbohydrates. For some individuals, it will be wheat. For others, it will be com or potato. I'll often see
carbohydrate intolerances in individuals with several of the carbs they're eating. You'll see this problem in
cases of women with elevated levels of Candida albicans (a fungus) which is a normal part of the gut flora
Prolonged use of anti-biotics and other drugs sometimes affect the gut and ultimately stimulate this nature
fungus to over-grow. Once this occurs, digestion is affected and again; malabsorption of nutrients occurs.
Many of these undigested particles are viewed by the immune system as foreign invaders and the body gets
little upset having to sort this out. The body ultimately realizes these carbs are the enemy, not food.
normally don't view these intolerances to be "true" allergies. Those are more readily identified when you have
a clean slate if you will. No other gut disturbances. That's when it's a good time to check for any "true
allergies.
And touching on a real issue for women in this day and age is this issue I mentioned of estrogen dominance
with a deficiency of progesterone. Some authors describe it as estrogen dominance unopposed by
progesterone. Basically, it's a lopsided scale. The body becomes heavily tipped to one side of the seal
hormonal speaking due to the over ingestion and exposure to synthetic estrogen. Estrogen makes thing
proliferate in the body and studies were showing this linked to polycystic ovaries and uterine fibroids. Doctor
John Lee M.D., who is no longer with us, is a great resource and thoroughly wrote and lectured on this subject
It was a lot of his work that let to HRT being taken off the shelves here in Australia and in the U.S.A. due to
potential causal link to breast cancer.
Two very good books that should be read carefully are "What Your Doctor Didn't Tell You About Pre
Menopause" and "Natural Progesterone" both by Dr. Lee. There are some other teachers and author
describing similar scenarios like Syndrome X and factors around pre-diabetes. But the real message I want to
convey here is they're all similar to varying degrees. The synthetic estrogen that has been making it into
women's bodies from the contraceptive pill, HRT, from chicken and other meats to dairy; are having the
accumulative effect of depressing the thyroid gland and sometimes other organ systems.
In addition to this, there are other environmental "man-made" synthetic estrogens from herbicides making
into the water supply to cosmetics, they apply to their skin to foods in contact with certain plastics. These are
called xenoestrogens. They have the same affect. This is driving women's hormonal system way out of
balance. It is over estrogenized, and with synthetic instead of natural estrogen. Dr. John Lee talks about it
in his many books and I will leave that information for listeners on the website. You have to work with the
different body systems and tilt the out of balance scale back in the right direction.
How? By eliminating the offenders through detoxification and supporting those organs or glands that are
struggling with appropriate supplements, including natural and only natural progesterone. It can easily be
administered to the body in cream form. Estrogen dominant women will usually exhibit weight gain, painful
menses, carb intolerance, hyperlipidemia on blood tests (high cholesterol & triglycerides). And They'll
exhibit all the signs & symptoms I described above with the "generally unwell" super-mom.
Lastly, on the womens' front; I'd like to see mothers teach themselves and their daughters about "nature
fertility". In Australia, there is a great woman author/teacher/naturopathic doctor named Francesca Naish
She has lots of great information on her website and a great start for this is her ground-breaking book called
"Natural Fertility". There is no reason to use a very strong pharmaceutical drug to interfere with such a sacred
cycle in women, the fertility cycle. Education instead of medication makes more sense to me. That is
obviously my personal opinion. If a woman learns exactly how her body works, she'll know when she is
fertile and when she isn't and can use that knowledge for both conception and contraception. And she'll b
keeping the synthetic estrogen out of her body. Which in turn will keep her from heading down the
"Hysterectomy highway" in years to come. Doctor Naish has some great books and a great website which I'll
list for you.

John. You mentioned earlier a concept called "functional change" or "functional imbalances". ..Could you
talk about what that really means for our audience?

Dr. Borsuk. Sure. When I first examine an individual, I look to see if there is balance in the differing bod
systems. Using A.K. procedures allow you to identify any dysfunction in these systems. The body allows
itself to adapt to different and ongoing stresses, emotional, structural and chemical. If there are certain stressors
in any of these systems that the body has trouble adapting to, signs and symptoms will start to appear in the
individual and in the muscle testing. I try to identify and correct these and hopefully prevent them from
recurring.
A "functional imbalance" put simply is where an individual's system is not adapting well to any or several of
these stresses. They're heading in the direction of ill health but haven't quite arrived there yet. They just don't
show positive results on their stool, urine and blood tests. They may have mild or even severe symptoms like
several symptoms I've described earlier. However, even though they may feel very unwell; they still present
in the normal range across the board when they have these tests done. Meaning, a doctor may say "I can't find
anything wrong with you; everything is within normal range". But you as the unwell individual know you stil
don't feel well. This is where Western Medicine is a bit weak. Because you may be heading in the direction"
of several different serious conditions. You may just not be sick enough to show positives on frank pathology
tests. And practitioners in my field have the skills to see you heading in that direction and can intervene o
the "functional imbalance" and tum you around before it becomes severe. We try to get you to do a U-turn so
you never reach the nasty destination.

John. Is a person's lifestyle important in your analysis? Does this affect your approach?

Dr. Borsuk. It's absolutely crucial. Most of the patients I see have these "functional imbalances" with
the accompanying symptoms. Going through the factors of their lifestyle is extremely important if
you're going to help them. Their day to day stresses, their job, obviously a huge one is their diet,
any negative habits like excess alcohol or smoking or recreational drugs.

John. Their diet must be a really big issue for them and for you when trying to help them?

Dr. Borsuk. It's ridiculously important! With all of the stresses in their daily lives and the stresses their body is
under with their "sugar ridden" diet in either in the form of sugar or an excess of processed carbs their body
becomes a "sugar burner" instead of using the body's preferred fuel which is fat. You have to get some of these
individuals totally off carbs for a period of time which is unique in every case. Others, you have to test for
quality and quantity of carbohydrate that can be tolerated by the body and still bum fat. By fixing all the
problems and getting them to become fat-burners; their energy rises and stays that way through more waking,
hours. The individuals caught in the sugar burning scenario with all the associated symptoms and imbalance
of the unwell super-mom described above have lots of up & down energy shifts through the day. We call this
"Sugar handling" problem. If you look at their sugar levels on a Glucose Tolerance Test, you'll see high
and low lows. A big rollercoaster. You want to see a more even spread of glucose (sugar) throughout that test
and throughout the individual's day. This equates to more energy, less structural aches and pains and less or no
sugar cravings. And these individuals will need some additional quality vitamin-mineral combinations for
period of time.
People here and abroad are getting fatter and fatter and diabetes with its associated risks is more prevalent an
on the rise. The Barry Sears' books explain this very clearly. He was a Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry. His
explanation as stated earlier, it's an insulin problem. And an excess of carbohydrates and the wrong types is
big culprit. Getting this all working properly gets the whole hormonal system balanced. The glands an|
organs cannot be dysfunctioning or out of balance for the hormonal system to work properly. If you identify
and eliminate any body system offenders (viruses, bad bacteria, parasites, funguses and molds or any other
toxicity), support everything involved nutritionally and structurally, including nutritional co-factors which are
usually deficient; then everything starts to fall into place. Optimal wellness.

John. In a couple other lectures I was present for in the Coffs Harbour region, you were
addressing some elite athletes in the audience and I know you treat a few in this area. Do these
same skills that A.K. gives you really benefit athletes in general?

Dr. Borsuk. Working structurally with everyday athletes and elite athletes is really gratifying and yes, the manual
muscle testing is an essential tool. I really enjoy just working on structural injuries. It's a favorite of mine
Especially individuals who have been really hurt and not helped by other practitioners. I have a few M.D.'
who refer me some of these injuries. But you have to realize that elite athletes have lots of other issues appearing
from serious or nagging injuries. They often train too hard and at too high a heart rate for too long a duration:
and this causes lots of problems, sometimes serious. And this often leads to systemic problems, not just
structural injuries.
So you always have to treat their whole body. The over-trained athletes also become sugar-burners instead of
fat burners and their diet goes off track, their adrenal glands become depleted and their endurance goes down
Again, with good tools you can assess and work with it all. Elite athletes can be a challenge because the
don't always like to be told what they need to do and often don't want to listen. It's their competitive nature
But after enough weight gain, endurance loss, colds and flu; they're usually ready for help. They have to reach
over-training rock bottom. Then they'll listen. And again, it's very gratifying getting them up and going and
improving again.
A real expert in my field in my opinion is Dr. Philip Maffetone D.C. Of course he utilizes A.K. procedure
very thoroughly and has written some excellent books on the subject as well as coaching several high profile
athletes and coaching one athlete to six Hawaiian Ironman titles. His books are a must whether you're
serious athlete or a weekend warrior. And I'll list his website and books.

John. You have had the luck of treating a few high-profile athletes around the coast. Have they been a
challenge?

Dr Borsuk. Let me first say that I'm really honored to have worked with some of them. I've learned so much
Up in Queensland, I helped an Olympic swim coach by the name of Brian Stehr. He then sent me quite a fa
of the "elites" on the Sunshine Coast. I was fortunately lucky enough to help him with a really bad shoulder
injury that no one else could fix. I was happy about that! He was the coach to Nick Darcy who swam for
Australia in the last Olympics. I've had the pleasure of working with three Ironman & Ironwomen. Kirsty
Holmes, Zane Holmes and Olympian Lisa Curry-Kenny. And several others in the Coffs Harbour area where I
live and practice. They suffer the same maladies as everyday folks. Sometimes on a grander scale.
I remember Kirsty Holmes being dehydrated until she got six liters of water into her during the summer
months. That's what you get when you train in the Queensland sun for 6-7 hours a day including her 7k
swimming daily. Four liters just wasn't cutting it. Two to three would usually do it for the average human.
really believe that athletes in general, not just elite athletes; have the most to gain by seeking out a doctor
doing Applied Kinesiology. There is so much they can do for them with structural balancing, diet education
tailored specifically for them and checking for nutrient deficiencies as well as all the other parts of the analysis
that us A.K.ers do daily with all our patients.

John You said earlier you could in fact touch on the emotional side of your tools which you were
going to elaborate on just a bit?

Dr. Borsuk. Sure John. I'll talk to you about the technique, then give you an example in an injur
situation with an emotional component tied it. Firstly the technique is called neuro-emotional
technique. The definition of neuro-emotional technique is that of a mind-body technique that uses a
methodology of finding and removing neurological imbalances related to the physiology of
unresolved stress. Net is a tool that can help improve many behavioral and physical conditions.
So let me apply this definition and concept to an injury scenario. Individuals who have experience
serious car crash injuries are typical for needing this therapy in addition to structural realignment
muscle & proprioceptive balancing and nutritional therapy for rebuilding the damaged tissue
involved. Serious car accidents are obviously very traumatic. Sometimes as a practitioner, you just
don't see and injured individual healing up at a pace you're used to. When the emotional
component is involved, healing will be slowed a bit on the structural side of things; sometime
dramatically so.
Many of these injured individuals not only have this component associated with their injury but have
this component be the real "stumbling block" if you will. This ends up being the more prominent
injury and very evident even after their structural patterns have resolved. You can imagine how
traumatic these accidents can be on the psyche and many others. Patients can get really stuck.
With car accident victims, you often see them re-living their trauma every time they hear a motor
vehicle slam on its brakes or sound a horn. They jump out of their seat and it's very evident the
from a psychological standpoint, they haven't gotten over their injury. They need some kind of help
to get back on the wagon and N.E.T. is that therapy.
What a practitioner does well-versed in N.E.T. is assess the injured individual every time they tree
them, because sometimes isn't diagnosable of the first visit but shows up several visits down the
track. Whenever you do find it, you can use specific emotional reflexes and verbal questioning!
through muscle testing and "remove the emotional block" if you will. It's amazing how much this
helps the individual and speeds up there injury resolution in general. I've seen some miraculous
results when a psychological injury is part of traumatic injury. Lastly, what's also important to realize
in my opinion is that it isn't the practitioner that heals the body, it's the wisdom of the body the
does. But sometimes the body/mind complex needs help in putting the healing process in motion.

John. Dr. B. Thanks so much for your time and effort today...

Dr. Borsuk. Thank you John and thanks for having me.

RESOURCES

Kenton, Leslie
"Passage To Power: Natural Menopause Revolution"
 lesliekenton.com

Lee M.D., John
"Natural Progesterone" 
"What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Pre-Menopause"
"What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause"
"What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer"
 johnleernd.com

Maffetone D.C., Philip
"Training For Endurance"
"Eating For Endurance"
"In Fitness & In Health"
"The Big Book of Health and Fitness"
"Complementary Sports Medicine"
 philmaffetone.com

Naish N.D., Francesca
"Natural Fertility"
 greenmedicineinstitute.com

Sears Ph.D., Barry
"The Zone Diet"
"The Anti-Aging Zone"
"The Anti-inflammation Zone"
 drsears.com

Walker D.C., Scott
netmindbody.com