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History
Where did Applied Bio-Mechanics come from?
Dr. John Hurley was the creator of this practice in the
1920’s and 30’s. He did not start out in a healthcare field. His first career was that of a mechanical engineer. After a substantial injury on the job, his mother inspired him to visit a chiropractor. He achieved moderate relief, however, his interest was piqued and he went on to study and practice chiropractic therapy for many years.
After almost 20 years of a thriving practice, he was not satisfied with the results that were able to be achieved with the skills he possessed. He began to doubt the science he had been taught regarding the chiropractic arts. Remember, he was a scientist first. If two people came in with the same problem, both were treated by the same chiropractor using the same techniques, why would one have a positive experience and the other experience a worsening of the issue? Why is the practitioner praised for the good result yet the negative result is not looked at or discussed by peers in the healthcare field? Dr Hurley saw that what was believed about the body by the chiropractic field had fundamental flaws.
This was when he began studying George W Crile’s book ‘The Bipolar Theory of Living Processes’. He studied the book for years until he felt he grasped how bodies truly functioned. He looked at the body through the eyes of his early work; the body as a machine, and he the mechanic or engineer.
In the book ‘Essentials of Body Mechanics’ written in the 1930’s by Goldthwait, Brown, Swaim, and Kuhns, it is stated
“It is necessary to have some standard or basis to work from, and such a standard can be easily established when the individual is looked upon as a machine, and is judged from the viewpoint of a mechanical engineer.”
These men were osteopathic physicians that were contemporaries of Dr Hurley and saw the value in his work. The early 1900’s was a fascinating time of discovery and innovation in natural healthcare that would later be sabotaged by the allopathic practitioners. We know that field today as Medicine.
Dr John Hurley knew that a body was made of matter. Everything in the universe that exists is matter. Matter is subject to universal laws. The force of gravity is always active. We are always resisting gravity, as well as, any other force we come in contact with in our lives. We do not only resist gravity but we have a center of gravity.
Our center of gravity is at the lumbo sacral articulation. All forces acting on the body concentrate at this point. Anything that affects any part of the body will affect this point. If anything happens that pushes our structure past it’s elastic limit, meaning once the load is removed the structure will not return to normal, then permanent damage occurs, meaning the long-time destructive change. Hurley believed it was only logical that a correction be attempted here, the sacrum, the lever of the body.
Applied Bio-Mechanics uses the law of gravity to facilitate the body’s inherent healing abilities to reverse distortion, to remove strain, and restore a person’s effectiveness at resisting gravity. I know this sounds like a confusing concept, especially to those in the manual natural healthcare fields. However, I can promise you from my own personal experience with clients that has spanned almost 20 years, you can count on this work, you can count on Hurley’s discoveries.
Dr. E. F. Hayles learned Hurley’s techniques. When Hurley decided it was time to retire, he gave Hayles his personal table, told him, “I’m tired. I’m going fishing.” Hurley encouraged Hayles to teach his work but Hayles believed he was a better therapist than teacher. It was only by the urging of his clients that he began to teach in his elder years. He taught 200 people. Of those 200 people, he taught Ken Ladd and Shay O’Neil.
Ken Ladd took Hayles’ last classes. He was so amazed at what the work did for his own body, and that of his wife, that he took the last 5 classes of Bio-Mechanics, and the last five classes of Bio-Engineering. Ken then went on to become a massage therapist and then instructor. He worked hard to get these classes approved by the Arkansas Massage Therapy Board. He was successful and has taught many classes, both in America and all over the world. His wife, Shay, worked tirelessly to edit Hurley’s books to add an index, information that Hurley put out after the initial publishing, and footnotes. Together they compliled and edited Hayles’ notes from Hurley’s last classes to compile a thorough, in depth, and up-to-date manual for instruction when classes would be held. Together, they were instrumental in preserving Hurley’s work.
Stacy Hutchinson learned Bio-Mechanics from Ken Ladd in 2006. She had previously received the work when she was 18. Stacy could not believe how she felt after the session which sparked a life long passion for this work.
Stacy attended massage therapy school to be able to legally practice hands on therapy. As soon as she completed school, she took Ken’s classes in Applied Bio-Mechanics and Cranial-Sacral Therapy.
Ken has mentored Stacy for nearly 20 years, preparing her to take on the legacy of Hurley’s work. The torch was passed in early 2024 when Ken Ladd retired from teaching and seeing clients.
Stacy is excited to bring this work into the modern age, using the technology available to teach classes in a comprehensive and clear fashion. With informative presentations, live demonstrations, detailed manuals and handouts, extensive hands on practice, and almost 2 decades of experience, you can be confident that you will be able to effectively practice these techniques at the end of class.
