Muscle Testing 101

My patients love the results they get in my office but sometimes it's hard to explain to others the 'arm pushing thing' that I do, also known as muscle testing or Applied Kinesiology. So I thought it would be good to blog about muscle testing.



Applied Kinesiology began with Dr. George Goodheart in the 1960s when he made the first correlation between finding a weak muscle using muscle testing and then employing chiropractic therapy to make it stronger. He then looked beyond the chiropractic profession to the fields of biomedicine, osteopathy, acupuncture, dentistry, and nutrition putting it all together in a method called Applied Kinesiology. I am certified in Applied Kinesiology and use it in my chiropractic work.

Dr. Freddie Ulan took the muscle testing from Applied Kinesiology and applied it more extensively to the nutrition of the body and developed a technique called Nutrition Response Testing.. Dr. Ulan introduced me to Nutrition Response Testing when I was 16 years old and stopped my suffering from childhood asthma. I haven't used my inhaler since. Being inspired by how it changed my life I knew this is what I wanted to do for a living.

In explaining muscle testing to my patients I say that I can use any muscle in the body, it's just easier to use an arm. As I push on the arm with light pressure, the patient is to resist by matching my pressure.

With my other hand I then apply pressure to all the other organs. What happens when I put pressure, let's say, on the stomach, and if there is a problem there, the stomach won't like the pressure. It sends a signal to the brain to protect the area that if I push on the arm AND on the stomach at the same time the arm goes weak (meaning the patient can no longer resist the pressure I am applying) because the body doesn't care about the arm, it wants to protect the stomach. That let's me know what organs go weak and what organs go strong in the body and I can suggest nutritional support accordingly.

When organs go weak it doesn't mean they are diseased but rather they aren't functioning 100%. This is functional medicine, helping the body before it get's to the diseased state. If I am concerned that an organ is diseased I would refer them to the appropriate healthcare provider. The nutrition provided by Nutrition Response Testing is beneficial to work in conjunction with other healthcare providers because the majority of what I use for nutrition supplements comes from an organic farm in Wisconsin called Standard Process. These supplements are whole food supplements. The body knows how to heal with food.

The body is amazing at knowing what it needs. Muscle testing is a tool to communicate with the body and determine what it needs to rebuild and restore health. In this way Nutrition Response Testing is a way to design a personal nutrition program specifically for you and your health.