Marco Rado
Biography
First encounter with kinesiology and decision to start my own journey
I encountered kinesiology for the first time in my life in 1988, when I was a young athlete and went to see a chiropractor who used Applied Kinesiology. As he could not solve my knee problems, in 1990, after two surgeries, I went to a physiotherapist who also happened to be a specialized kinesiologist and a Touch for Health instructor.
In 1992 after a severe accident that definitely ended my professional sports career, I decided to start my journey in kinesiology. I took all the classes I could and once I took all those available in Italy, I started repeating them. In the meantime I also completed my training for a massage therapist in order to understand all the muscles better and how to work on the body.Richard Utt's presentation decided my life
In 1995, I took part in the International Kinesiology Conference held in Italy where I saw Richard Utt, the founder of Applied Physiology (AP), speaking and presenting his method. Richard gave a demonstration on Charles Krebs who had been suffering from muscle spasticity and, after just 20 minutes of balance, it was much easier for Charles to walk. It was love at first sight! In that moment, I decided that I wanted to study Applied Physiology.
Learning Applied Physiology with Richard Utt in the USA
It took me several years to get ready but finally in 1999 I could go to the United States to study Applied Physiology. My first trip was to take a 10-day class, later I took the Professional Long Course that was 7 weeks long, and finally, a few months later, the Advanced Long Course that lasted another 5 weeks. This experience was the most important in my life. I went to Arizona as a student and came back home feeling like a professional, ready to work on any possible problem using the methods of kinesiology.
Becoming a teacher
In 2000, I invited Richard Utt to teach the Agape Quest class in Italy. The class was 10 days long, and after 2 days, at a certain point, Richard said that he was quite tired and he wanted me to teach the rest of the topics of the day. In the end, I taught almost half of the entire workshop. That is how I started teaching. I never wanted to become a teacher but it came so easily and the participants were very happy with the way I taught. This was my baptism of fire… and I’m still teaching.
Further training and international conferences
In 2000, I also became a Touch for Health instructor, and in 2001, I went back again to Arizona (together with Monica who became my wife later) to train to be an official AP Instructor. That year I took part in an International Kinesiology Conference as a speaker. This gave me the chance to meet some of the world's leading kinesiologists. Since then I have participated in multiple national and international conferences. I have also been actively involved in organizing several conferences, with AKSI, the Italian Kinesiology Association, with IASK, the International Kinesiology Association, and finally with Knowlative.
The first course I authored
I started on osteopathy as well and dived deeper in studying the subject that is my second great love apart from kinesiology - Traditional Chinese Medicine. I took an especially detailed look into the topic of the 8 Extraordinary Meridians and had a strong desire to introduce this great knowledge into the kinesiological work to be used through the muscle response testing. Thus, in 2003, I created my very first class. It was called The Basics of Life or Unwinding the Living Matrix in the beginning, but now I renamed it K-Physis Foundations because it’s at the base of almost all other classes I have written.
Specific work on the spine
As part of my studies in Applied Physiology, I learned how to work on neurological cases and, in consequence of the accident I had in the early ‘90s which almost left me completely paralyzed (I broke 3 vertebras in my neck and 2 vertebras in my back), I started working intensively on people with neurological problems. Even though Richard Utt had created an immense amount of material, there were no specific procedures for spinal traumas (both structural and neurological). So I started to search for new techniques combining my new acquired osteopathic knowledge with kinesiological procedures. Once I accumulated enough procedures, in 2005, I created another workshop called Spine Physiology.
Teaching around the world
In 2007, Alfred Schatz and Susanne Degendorfen, the founders of the IAK Forum International in Germany, gave me a chance to teach at their school. IAK is the biggest Kinesiology Institute in the world and all major kinesiology branches and modalities had first success here, before getting off in the world. I will always be thankful to Alfred and Susanne because the same happened to me — after teaching in their school, I started receiving invitations to teach in other countries: Spain, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, Australia, Switzerland, Ireland, and Hungary.
Founding Knowlative
In 2017, I have become one of the founders of Knowlative, the biggest Kinesiology WebApp, a space where students and professionals can find all the information they need to do kinesiology.
Foundation of the Physis International Institute of Kinesiology in Italy
In 2017, my wife and I founded our Physis International Institute of Kinesiology for our Italian students. It has 3 levels: Kinesiologist (3 years long — 700 hours), Professional Kinesiologist (5 years — 1,070 hours), and Specialized Kinesiologist (6 years — 1,400 hours). At our Institute we teach Touch for Health, Applied Physiology and our own classes.
In the very beginning of our path we called our work Integrative Physiology, but very few people used that name — usually they just called it “Marco’s classes”. That is why we have decided to re-name our method and call it K-PHYSIS.
First online conference
in the midst of the pandemic
In 2020, in the height of the COVID pandemic, Knowlative and IASK (together with many national associations) decided to support people and organized the first World Online Kinesiology Conference with 500 participants from all the continents. Since then Knowlative has been organizing online/hybrid conferences every year.
Where I stand now
The number of classes I fathered has been growing constantly. Now, in 2023, I have a total of 18 classes, many of which I created with my wife Monica. The nexus of these classes is to give a modern scientific understanding of Traditional Chinese Medicine using kinesiology, to find easy ways to balance our clients in all their aspects: physical, emotional, biochemical, energetic, and spiritual.
In the meantime, I have been taking extensive training in physiotherapy and have added this cap to my toolbox as well.
I have been on the board of the Italian Specialized Kinesiology Association (AKSI) for 8 years and other 8 years on the board of the International Association of Specialized Kinesiologists (IASK). I am very grateful for the chance these positions offered me to meet top kinesiologists and great people, learn the ropes of organizing huge international events, contribute to the world of kinesiology and feel a part of an amazing world community.