We knew her as a swimmer and Olympic medalist. She was discovered as a seasoned pastry chef in “The Best Pastry Chef, Chefs and Celebrities”, and appreciated as a talented commentator during the swimming events of the Paris Olympic Games. But Laure Manaudou now plans to embrace a completely new career: kinesiologist. “I finished my kinesiology training course, I validated my 600 hours of internship, all I have to do is pass the certification,” she confided a few days ago to Current woman.
A reconversion project that leaves many perplexed. For what ? Because kinesiology is a controversial discipline, at the heart of controversial affairs and called into question by Miviludes (Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight against Sectarian Abuses), the observatory of sectarian aberrations. But what exactly is kinesiology? What does it consist of? And what are the risks associated with it? 20 Minutes explains to you.
Kinesiology and kinesiologies
If it starts the same, kinesiology, little known, has nothing to do with physiotherapy. Moreover, the national council of the Order of masseurs-physiotherapists “does not recognize “kinesiology” as a qualification, a diploma, a title, a grade, a function, a specificity or a specialty of masso-physiotherapy” . Founded in the 1960s by an American chiropractor, Dr. George Goodheart, kinesiology is a method of holistic therapy inspired by Chinese medicine. But it “is neither a medicine nor a therapy and has no desire to be,” indicates the National Union of Kinesiologists (SNK). It leaves it to doctors and specialists to treat patients and their illnesses. Kinesiology works upstream, on the health and well-being of the individual and is seen as an educational and preventive approach.”
And with several schools of thought and exercise, kinesiology would bring together different kinesiologies. Thus, there is on the one hand “professional applied kinesiology”, and “energetic kinesiology”, explains Inserm, which looked into the question. The first “is organized at the international level and reserved for health professionals (chiropractor, dentist, doctor, osteopath), it only has a few dozen practitioners in France. It is designed as a tool that healthcare professionals can use in their area of expertise.” For what practical applications? “The claimed indications are in particular disturbances of the neuro-musculoskeletal system, but also certain functional disorders, food allergies and intolerances, certain hormonal disorders, emotional shocks,” responds Inserm.
There is also energetic kinesiology which is “much more represented in France,” continues Inserm. It is not reserved for health professionals, and brings together a set of practices such as “health through touch”, “educational kinesiology”, the “three in one concept”. According to the SNK, “energetic kinesiology thus covers wide areas of application: professional, family, personal, sporting, educational, etc. “. Without forgetting the more esoteric variations of this subject, such as “kinesiological astrology”.
Controversies and sectarian excesses
But how does the treatment by a kinesiologist work? In practice, it always starts in the same way: “This psycho-corporal technique uses a muscular test of communication on a physical and emotional level, describes Miviludes. Offered to all ages of life and to all audiences, it would allow users of the method to optimize their “personal resources” capital with the support of a therapist, and to achieve self-healing of existential difficulties. and diseases.”
A holistic and spiritual-philosophical approach to physical and mental well-being without a medical basis which worries the National Council of the Order of Physicians: “The essential risk is to exclude patients with serious pathologies from treatments whose effectiveness has been demonstrated, which can lead to a loss of opportunity or a vital risk for these patients. In addition, adds the observatory of sectarian aberrations, “the theses developed by these pseudo-therapists are based on a “psychologizing” approach based on three postulates: the guilt of the patient in the development of his illness or his discomfort , the anxiety of illness and the demand for better well-being in an individualist and materialist society.” A field where there are “self-proclaimed individual therapists following unapproved training courses of varying content, duration and costs”, and which “subjects those who adhere to it to mental control, and potentially puts them in danger”, s worries Miviludes.
Because the problem is that the followers of kinesiology, a movement born in the wake of the New Age, “advocate in a more or less radical way the break with lifestyle habits considered harmful, in favor of natural and authentic choices like “organic food, alternative medicine, non-drug therapies and even ecology”, notes Miviludes. However, continues the observatory of sectarian abuses, “the radicalization of certain followers of this movement has led to abuses of a sectarian nature”.
Drifts towards deprivation of care
And in fact, the beliefs of certain followers of kinesiology have led to tragedies, as in this case judged in June 2005 by the Assize Court of Quimper, recalls Miviludes: “parents, in the name of inherent ideological conceptions practicing kinesiology had adopted the vegan diet for themselves and their children in their quest for a purified diet. This diet deficient in animal proteins and vitamins and their extreme distrust of a medical world deemed a priori dangerous caused the death of their baby who, breastfed by the mother since birth, found himself in a state of malnutrition. major”.
More recently, in 2022, a kinesiologist and his wife were found guilty of depriving their two children of care and food. Since her birth at the end of 2020, the youngest of the couple’s two daughters, like her big sister, was malnourished, to the point of dying in April 2022.
No one knows at this time what application of kinesiology Laure Manaudou intends to pursue. On the other hand, in its evaluation report published in 2017, Inserm recalls that, “concerning the effectiveness of these practices, there are very few randomized controlled trials, not allowing to date to conclude as to to the effectiveness of kinesiology.
