APPLIED
KINESIOLOGY: MANUAL MUSCLE TESTING
RICHARD BELLI, D.C.
Research Advisory Chairman.
International
College of Applied Kinesiology ‑ U.S.A.
Manual muscle
testing ties been a tool for medical and chiropractic evaluation for decades.
The use of manual muscle testing as a tool in the medical community is mainly
limited to evaluation of pathology whereas, in the chiropractic community
it has been used for evaluation of functional disorders‑ It took the genius of George Goodheart, D.C.
to see the value of manual muscle testing as an evaluative tool for functional
disorders of the human system. His discovery earmarked the beginning of Applied
Kinesiology (AK), Years later, Walter Schmitt Jr., D.C. coined the term,,
"muscle testing as functional neurology", that started the era of
describing the functional neurological aspects of manual muscle testing, and
realization of the breadth of possibilities that manual muscle testing affords.
Over the
decades that muscle testing has been used as an analytical tool, there have
been a multitude of meanings attached to a weak muscle. These include dysfunction
of the electromagnetic system, the lymphatic system, the cranial respiratory
system, and many more‑ But whatever you mute the zebra, a zebra is a
zebra, and the bottom line in AK is that a "weak response" to a
muscle test means that the muscle's motor neuron is not functioning normally,
limiting the ability of the subject to contract the muscle. In other words,
if the motor neuron is shifted too far towards hyperpolarization then the
subject cannot depolarize the motor neuron enough to provoke a muscle contraction
and the muscle tests weak. This leaves us with the question, "What does
a weak muscle mean"?
The term
"weak muscle", in respect
to AK, is actually a misnomer. The muscle itself is not actually weak.
Assuming there is no end organ pathology, the "weakness" is the
result of inhibition of the motor neuron.. A muscle is simply contractile
tissue that is depolarized by an efferent signal from the motor neuron. A
weak muscle simply means that the muscle being tested is not appropriately
depolarized by the motor neuron`
Therefore, a more appropriate term would be a "neurologically inhibited
muscle". Hence one who uses manual muscle testing as an analysis tool
needs to realize that muscle testing is simply a test of the function of the
motor neuron.
The anterior
horn of the spinal cord is the location of the cell body of the motor neuron.
The functional state of the anterior horn is maintained by convergence of
multiple ascending and descending pathways. The descending pathways originate
at suprasegmental levels both pyramidally and extra pyramidally. The ascending
pathways are sensory pathways that are either of somatic or visceral origin.
The descending pathways can be of conscious origin in which the subject voluntarily
motivates the muscle, or it can be of reflexogenic origin that is involuntary. Ascending pathways may be
sensory from a variety of origins
ranging from mechanoreceptors its skin and joints to nociceptive fibers from
soma and viscera, In an occurrence of a weak muscle, the total effect of the
converging pathways may shift the anterior horn so far towards hyperpoluization
that the neuron cannot be brought to it's firing threshold, thus when the
examiner tests the muscle the subject cannot resist the force of the examiner.
There are
a variety of reflexes indigenous to the human system that are necessary to
maintain life and limb. If there is either somatic or visceral tissue dysfunction
there will be an associated reflex affecting motoneurons and muscle function.
A classic example is an inflamed appendix in which the patient cannot extend
the right hip. This flexion contraction is
a withdrawal reflex that is a consequence of tissue irritation and a nociceptive
drivers withdrawal reflex. For every hypertonic
muscle due loss of appropriate inhibition of its' motor neuron, there
will be a reflexogenic inhibition or "weakness" of its' opposing
muscle. As a result, nearly every visceral or somatic dysfunction will result
in a neurologically inhibited muscle‑ Lesser degrees of this exampe
come in the form of the weak muscles
that are examined with manual muscle testing.
The nervous
system monitors and drives virtually all the systems in the human body. When
there is dysfunction of any part of
the human system the central nervous system knows about it, and attempts
to respond accordingly. The soma and viscera communicate with the central
nervous system both chemically And neurologically. Therefore it is reasonable
to say that both chemical and neurological dysfunction can be analyzed with
manual muscle testing.
Regardless
of the name of the technique used, whether it is acupuncture meridian stimulation,
neurolymphatic technique, spinal adjusting or other osseous manipulation,
if it strengthens a muscle it is bringing the anterior horn and associated
motor neuron to a more normal state
of function.
Hardly a
single human function takes place without involvement of muscles. With that
in mind, and proficient knowledge of the
human nervous system, the use of manual muscle testing in the form of Applied
Kinesiology can provide an almost limitless tool for functional analysis of
the nervous system and all that effects it.