2. THE PROBLEM
• Focus Question: How can we rehabilitate the victims of human trafficking
physically and psychologically by expanding understanding of the trauma they
have experienced?
• Great Britain banned slave trade in 1807, most of the world banned slave trade in
the 1800’s for moral reasons
• Slavery/human trafficking is highly profitable and extremely active in the 21st
century
• Find out what factors, from a kinesiology and communication standpoint, best
aide victims of human trafficking
!

3. PERSPECTIVES: KINESIOLOGY AND
COMMUNICATION
• The goal of this research is to find more a more correct progression of steps that
could help rehabilitate the problems victims might have mentally and physically
• Kinesiology focuses on chemical and hormone balances using exercise physiology
as well as biomechanical analysis of how the human body moves
• Communication can be used to focus on techniques used during victim interviews
and counseling
• Proposed form of counseling: use elements of exercise psychology that are
commonly used to rehabilitate athletes

4. KINESIOLOGY
Can be broken down into sub disciplines: Exercise physiology, exercise psychology,
biomechanics, kinetics, kinematics
• Common injuries encountered in sports can also be present in human trafficking
victims as well as some injuries not common in sports
• Common: Fractures, tears, sprains, strains, muscle atrophy
• Exercise physiology will focus on chemicals and hormones and their balances as
well as secretion triggers
• Serotonin, dopamine, phosphocreatine, adenosine triphosphate (ATP),
epinephrine, norepinephrine, endorphins, cortisol etc.
• Exercise Psychology will guide patients through training/rehabilitation prescription
similar to the way a medical doctor guides patients through a course of
medication.

6. COMMUNICATION
• Primarily used to extrapolate qualitative data from interviews
• Also useful in counseling therapy
• Reveals themes that can be used to construct a more comprehensive
understanding of what is “normal”
• Presented the question: Do they do this voluntarily, if so, why?
• Kamler’s analysis from interviews: “I build a theory of “culture as a space of
safety:” a self-reinforcing mechanism whereby employees ritualistically retreat
from the overwhelming circumstances they confront in their work” (2013, p.73)

7. MESHING THE PERSPECTIVES
• Find out who the “victims” really are and who can be helped by rehabilitation
• Use biomechanics and physiology research and psychological therapy techniques
to rehabilitate victims
• Avoid disciplinary bias by using multiple perspectives
• Prescribe a course of training that will best boost rehabilitative chemicals like
serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins while keeping cortisol within homeostatic
boundaries. (research shows that yoga, dynamic stretching, and aerobic exercise
are great for this phenomena)
• Utilize expertise of personal trainers, psychologists, and counselors in formulating
effective, personalized treatment plans using exercise as the medicine

8. CONCLUSION
• Many unanswered questions, and this research by itself does not “solve the
problem of human trafficking”
• This problem is best attacked from an interdisciplinary standpoint
• Primary goal is to help the victims
• Can be applied to other groups of people for rehabilitation efforts like veterans
with P.T.S.D., medical patients, addicts/alcoholics, and victims of domestic
violence
• Study has potential to be a beneficial approach to many of the problems that
plague modern humans

9. REFERENCES
De Shalit, A., Heynen, R., & van der Meulen, E. (2014). Human Trafficking and Media Myths:
Federal Funding, Communication Strategies, and Canadian Anti-Trafficking Programs.
Canadian Journal Of Communication, 39(3), 385-412.
Hawkes, T. D., Manselle, W., & Woollacott, M. H. (2014). Tai Chi and meditation-plus-exercise
benefit neural substrates of executive function: a cross-sectional, controlled study. Journal Of
Complementary & Integrative Medicine, 11(4), 279-288.
Kamler, E. M. (2013). Negotiating Narratives of Human Trafficking: NGOs, Communication and the
Power of Culture. Journal Of Intercultural Communication Research, 42(1), 73-90.
Min-Sung, H., Yeong-Ho, B., Jong-Won, K., & Do-Yeon, K. (2015). Effects of yoga exercise on
maximum oxygen uptake, cortisol level, and creatine kinase myocardial bond activity in
female patients with skeletal muscle pain syndrome. Journal Of Physical Therapy Science, 27
(5), 1451-1453 3p.
Thomas G., P., Carissa, G., Carrie, B., Jessica, C., Anne, I., Eleanor, W., & ... Anne, I. (2015). Brief
Reports Does Exercise Environment Enhance the Psychological Benefits of Exercise for
Women?.
*Full reference list available in the study’s reference page