VHT was developed by Jock Ruddock (1942 – 2011), a former Scotland Yard Police Officer. Having spent 28 years of an eclectic life as an international professional wrestler, entertainment director, hotel manager, song writer, show writer, record producer, he turned to the world of complementary health. As a professional wrestler and martial artist Jock studied the work of other wrestlers who had picked up methods of manipulating backs, necks and limbs as a result of injuries obtained in the ring or in the dojo. His interest in bodywork was sparked in 1966 after noting a scoliosis in his youngest daughter. With his practical knowledge of how a body worked and the ‘gentle touch’ which all aikido practitioners and professional wrestlers are trained to use, he developed his own methods of addressing imbalance in the body from a purely physical paradigm.
In 1995 he attended the Hypnotherapist Course at the National Society of Professional Hypnotherapy under Scotland’s leading Hypnotherapist, Vicky Watson. While on that course a student injured his back; Jock, locating a subluxation and spasm, performed a toggle manipulation, which created a loud pop, bringing about immediate dissipation of pain and full recovery of movement. Encouraged by this he took a course in Bowen qualifying under Oswald Rentsch and set up his clinic in Scotland. While he was able to change the lives of numerous clients with his new learnt skills, he was constantly exploring new methods, incorporating philosophies from TCM, Kahuna, Dynamic Ki, Kinesiology, Cranio Sacral, Isogai and Hyperton-X. In 1996/7 as a result of numerous requests from a number of practitioners he began to teach and further develop in a whole new direction, filling in the gaps and achieving results that were far above anyone’s expectations. Using the distorted muscle recoil as a spring with which to power a vibration through the soft tissue as a foundation, he pioneered and developed VHT. In 1997 it was officially accepted by the Institute of Complementary Health and the British Complementary Medicine Association amongst others.
In 1999 his wife, Ivana Ruddock, a qualified veterinary surgeon, former researcher in animal immune system and anatomist joined Jock in traveling the world teaching VHT and their other two disciplines, Equine Touch and Canine Touch. With her qualifications and consummate passion for research she has brought to their organisation, the ETF, a credibility and substance which has been applauded by all who attend their courses.
Their combination has been described as a perfect “tag team” teaching combination, Jock the intuitive hands on specialist while Ivana the purist, the ultimate seeker of knowledge, the lecturer with the ability to pass on that knowledge and to answer all questions raised whether allopathic or holistic that have passed within her field of study and understanding.
1999 Jock and Ivana began to research more and more into both Equine Touch and VHT amending, testing, discarding, developing and choreographing complete new procedures based upon the rules and principles of holistic bodywork They discovered that by vibrating the muscles in a certain sequence and at specific points in the body using slightly more pressure combined with a Tai Chi flow that the entire body would slip into a state of relaxation and confusion. The syndrome is something similar to an entire orchestra tuning up prior to a concert, out of this confusion and chaos order within the body emerges and homeostasis is attained. After considerable studying and fine tuning this new approach, they decided to name it The Vibromuscular Harmonization Technique (VHT).