Muscle Testing

What is Muscle Testing?
Founded on the principles of the ancient Chinese art of acupuncture and internal energy, muscle testing is technique that is commonly used to receive biofeedback from the body. Many healthcare professionals including naturopaths, chiropractors, and some medical doctors are using muscle testing as a means to evaluate an individual's imbalances and determine specific requirements based on the information they receive from the body. Structural complications, nutritional deficiencies, food sensitivities, organ function, and mental/emotional issues are a few areas muscle testing has been used to provide insight. Techniques such as Applied Kinesiology and Touch for Health employ muscle testing to isolated muscles and in a particular sequence to impart information about the function of that muscle and its relation to a specific organ system. Muscle testing is an additional technique to provide information and is not designed to diagnose any condition.
How does it work?
We all have seen the use of electrical paddles to start a heart that is not beating, or the spike on a lie detector test when someone is untruthful during a polygraph test, and possibly even experienced EMG, electromyography, to evaluate and record electrical activity of a muscle, or a NCV, nerve conduction velocity test, to asses potential nerve injury. But do we understand what is happening?

If we look at the body we see the entire system is under the control of the brain. The brain communicates with every aspect of the body through the nervous system using a series of electrical impulses. Every cell in the body contains its own electrical energy, is continuously surrounded by electrical energy, uses this electrical energy to communicate with the rest of the body and also gives off energy. The above examples show the importance of the body's electrical energy and how that energy can be utilized to uncover potential problems.

Throughout a lifetime the body is constantly exposed to and impacted by energy from the surrounding environment. If we remember physics class we recall that everything in the universe has energy (the law of conservation of energy which states energy can neither be created or destroyed, it can only be transformed from one state to another, and Einstein's theory of relativity by which we see energy and mass are the same). Every communication, exposure, and experience the body has, excluding those while under anesthesia, are recorded and stored by the brain. Whether physical, emotional, biochemical, or electromagnetic stimuli, the brain is continuously processing, responding, and recording. The response to a stimulus is based on the benefit or detriment the specific exposure has to the body. If an experience or exposure is in contradiction with the body, this experience or exposure will negatively impact the system causing dysfunction and putting the entire body into a state of weakness. In contrast, if an experience or exposure does not conflict with the body, there is no disruption to the system and the body will maintain normal function. Through muscle testing
How is it done?
In the case where the practitioner uses an upper extremity, the individual to be tested will raise the arm parallel to the floor and with one hand the practitioner will introduce mild downward pressure to the outstretched arm while the other hand stabilizes the individual on his or her opposite shoulder. Some practitioners will use the arm raised laterally to the individual's side while others test the individual with the arm raised straight in front of the body. Understanding that muscles rarely work individually, the practitioner will focus on the first few inches of the range of motion as the body will recruit other muscles to compensate for the loss of strength. The practitioner will proceed to evaluate the individual using a binary, or 'yes/no' system. Whatever negatively challenges or stresses that system will weaken the body producing a 'no' response. In this case the upper extremity will go weak and the individual's arm will no longer be able to resist the mild downward pressure of the practitioner. Conversely, whatever works with the body will maintain existing strength enabling the individual to resist the practitioner's downward pressure producing a 'yes' response. For example, we all know that a candy bar will have a negative impact on the body from the obvious blood sugar issues to toxic additive/preservative concerns. Examining the effect the candy bar will have prior to ingestion we notice that simply holding the bar during a muscle test creates added stress for the body and in turn weakens the function of the entire body and the tested arm falls.
Why is this important to me?
Muscle testing is an excellent tool that may offer insight to the specific areas of an individual's life that may be causing problems to their overall health. Commonly, stimuli that negatively impact the health of an individual produce such subtle and routine responses that they often go unnoticed and uncorrected. The biofeedback the body provides through muscle testing has enabled many people to gather additional information about their body and lifestyle to make significant and lasting changes to positively affect their health.