Positive Association Technique (PAT)

PAT is a non-invasive, natural allergy treatment performed by qualified Naturopaths at Health & Wellness Australia and Auckland. PAT is based on a form of positive conditioning, utilizing kinesiology and acupressure techniques to help re-train your body to reduce your reactions to food, airborne and chemical substances.

PAT has been performed in Australia since 2003, and New Zealand since 2007, on more than 25,000 clients suffering from allergy symptoms and helps everyday people who are affected by anything from seasonal allergies, nasal congestion, food reactions and more.

The treatment evolved from over 20 years of collaborative research from health care professionals in the fields of acupuncture, kinesiology, naturopathy and acupressure. The holistic blend coupled with modern technology has led to a non-invasive, painless treatment which can be administered to clients of any age.

PAT is all about re-training the body – just like a psychologist might work with a client to condition their mind and help them overcome an overreaction to a traumatic situation;

i.e. maybe as a child someone was scratched by a cat and now as an adult is always afraid of cats even through their now large adult size should issue such an attack by a cat unrealistic.

In the same way PAT is all about working with the body’s reaction to a substance.

A real allergy and a reaction may result in the same symptoms for a client. PAT does not aim to cure allergies or sensitivities, but to change the relationship between the major organs of the body and their reactions to what are actually harmless substances.

Reactions to the substance can manifest in different symptoms for different people. One person may react to soybean by getting rashes, while another reacts with sinus congestion, heartburn, or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The symptoms in each case are indicative of a different organ system being triggered.

During an Initial PAT Consultation, our Naturopaths use a form of muscle response testing (or kinesiology) to assess your reactions to various food, airborne and chemical substances, to see which may be contributing to your symptoms.

This involves holding onto a sample vial of the trigger substance, and your practitioner will looking for a change in the muscle strength in your arm, indicating a reaction to the substance.

Your first session also includes PAT for one substance group, where we use a gentle massage tool called an “Acustim” (stands for Acupressure Stimulation) to stimulate acupressure points along the Du Mai meridian, which flows down the back. The Du Mai is also called the “Sea of Yang” and stores, nourishes and moves the yang energy within the body, and influences all of the yang meridians.

Along the spine also lies various nerve bundles that correspond the different organ systems in the body, which deal with “fight or flight” responses. By stimulating reactive organ systems via these points, the original defensive state may be lowered, allowing for a healthier, less reactive, response.

During your Initial Consultation, your Naturopath will take a detailed history of your symptoms, perform a form of muscle testing for a wide range of food, airborne and chemical substances (depending on your symptoms), as well as a PAT treatment for one substance group.

For the muscle testing (kinesiology) component, you’ll lie on a treatment table and be asked to press your whole arm into the table, while your practitioner resists your pressure. You then hold on to different sample vials of each substance (e.g. dust mites, dairy, etc) and a change in your muscle pressure indicates a reaction to that substance.

Once the testing has been completed and it has been decided which substance to address first, the treatment involves holding onto the sample vial of the substance while the practitioner stimulates acupressure points down your spine using a chiropractic tool called an “Acustim”. This stimulation creates a positive conditioning effect, which aims to re-train your body to no longer react to the substance, and reduce your symptoms.

At the end of your Initial Consultation, you will receive a list of results for all the substances we tested, as well as a treatment plan. At each follow-up consultation your practitioner will re-check that your last treatment has “held” and then move on to the next substance group.

Why people love PAT’s non-invasive nature;

• No needles
• No herbal remedies
• No supplements
• No avoidance (in fact, you’ll be holding a vial of the substance in your hand).

PAT complements well with small lifestyle changes, so you can take PAT as a stand-alone treatment or a way to give yourself an extra boost in working with a complex condition.

1. How many sessions will I need?
   About 80-85% of clients only need one session per substance group, so the number of treatments usually just depends on how many substances are triggering your symptoms.
2. How long do the results last?
   The treatments can last anywhere from a few months to 10 years, depending on the person.
3. Can PAT be performed on children? Yes, we see many children in the clinic, who often respond well to PAT. The
   only difference when seeing a child under 10 years old is we use one of the parents as a “surrogate” tester for the muscle testing component, whereas the PAT component is exactly the same.

Initial PAT Consultation (1 hour) – $185 AUD/NZD
**for new and returning clients who haven’t attended the clinic in 5+ years

Follow-Up PAT Consultation (30 mins) – $105 AUD/NZD
**for current clients only

Extended PAT Consultation (45 mins) – $155 AUD/NZD
**for returning clients who haven’t attended the clinic for 2-5 years