What Is This Thing Called “Muscle Testing?”

Lee A. Bowers, Ph.D.

If you’ve been to holistic practitioners, you’ve probably experienced it. It’s also know as “muscle response testing” (MRT) or “applied kinesiology” and many chiropractors, naturopaths, energy workers and others use some form of it. But what are they really doing? To many, it appears to be a lot of hocus pocus. Actually, “kinesiology” is the science of movement, and muscle testing is a tool that uses the neuromuscular system to aid in evaluating what is wrong and what to do for a patient.

“Applied Kinesiology” is the name that was given to these techniques in the early 1960’s by chiropractor George Goodhart, generally recognized as the father of muscle testing. The general assumption behind MRT is that the central nervous system sends out signals to every cell in the body, and every cell is connected to the brain through a complex network. Messages get sent back and forth through nerve cells. Muscle test is a way of accessing the information of these cells. Our muscles are electrically connected to the brain via the spinal chord, so technically, we’re really testing brain response, not muscle response. If the autonomic nervous system (ANS) could speak, muscle testing would not be necessary.

It is a binary system. If a muscle is stressed and stays strong, that means the opposite of its being stressed and going weak. Different practitioners interpret strong and weak differently. When I muscle test, it is with the intention that what enhances the body keeps us strong and what upsets it makes us weak. Most chiropractors and some other natural health practitioners use the opposite approach – where there’s a weak test, it’s viewed as being no resistance, or no problem, whereas a strong test in indication of a problem. The systems work equally well – it simply depends on the intention of the tester. You see, it is really the ANS of the tester communicating with the ANS of the patient, so the tester can set parameters either way.

How Is Muscle Testing Performed?

There are many different styles of MRT. Probably the most common is for the patient to put his/her arm out to the side, parallel to the ground. While the patient gives slight resistance, the practitioner presses down on the wrist, while either verbally or silently asking a question. The arm will either stay in place (a “strong” response), or go down (a “weak” response). However, other muscles can be used. A person can sit on the side of an exam table with their lower leg extended and the tester pushes on the ankle, the patient can stick his/her elbow out and it can be pushed back, etc.

“What about someone who is very weak, or a small child?” you might ask. In these cases, a surrogate is often used. This person, who is able to offer the required resistance, usually touches the patient with one hand while the other arm is being tested. It is believed that this works because the surrogate is just a link in the energy chain between the patient and practitioner. This method is also often used for testing animals.

When a surrogate is not available, some practitioners use their own fingers as a form of surrogate muscle testing. This is also how people perform muscle tests on themselves.

You Mean I Can Muscle Test MYSELF?

Well, maybe. Theoretically, we should all be able to easily test ourselves because our autonomic nervous systems know everything there is to know about what’s going on in our bodies. We could all be excellent self testers if it weren’t for a couple little problems – we think too much, we want things to be the way we want them to be, and above all else, we want to be RIGHT! In other words, all too often, our heads get in the way!

Let me give you an example. I know a woman who had been trying very hard to get pregnant. She thought she was, so she muscle tested and got a “yes” response. She was thrilled. She also was NOT pregnant. How could that be? Certainly the ANS knows if one’s pregnant or not! Well, this is a case where her desire (i.e. conscious thought energy) overrode the ANS. It was as if her unconscious mind was saying, “I know you really want a ‘yes,’ and I want to make you happy so I’ll give you a ‘yes.’

So what good is it, anyway? Well, MRT can be VERY helpful if you want to know whether you’re getting enough Vitamin C, for example. You can just ask your body, via MRT, “Am I getting a sufficient amount of Vitamin C in my diet and supplement regimen? I have no doubt you’d get an accurate response. Why? Because you DON’T CARE what answer you get! If you need more Vitamin C, you want to know it, but if you don’t need any more, that’s okay too.

Incidentally, this rule applies to practitioners as well. I’m often asked, “Are some people better muscle testers than others?” My answer is an emphatic “Yes.” Beyond just technique and experience, I think the thing that makes someone an excellent muscle tester is the ability to GET THEIR HEAD OUT OF THE WAY! I’m always happy to get a muscle testing response that’s different from what I would have expected, because it’s confirmation to me that my expectations weren’t influencing the testing. Beware of anyone who has their own agenda about what’s right for you.

Now the above is just my opinion – but it’s based on a lot of observation. Someone who’s really studied this is Daniel A. Monti, M.D., an Associate Professor at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. The results of a study by Monti and his team of researchers was published in the highly regarded journal, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1999, 88, 1019-1028. A summary of the study is as follows:

This study investigated differences in values of manual muscle tests after exposure to congruent and incongruent semantic stimuli. Muscle testing with a computerized dynamometer was performed on the deltoid muscle group of 89 healthy college students after repetitions of congruent (true) and incongruent (false) self-referential statements. The order in which statements were repeated was controlled by a counterbalanced design. The combined data showed that approximately 17% more total force over a 59% longer period of time could be endured when subjects repeated semantically congruent statements (p<.001). Order effects were not significant. Overall, significant differences were found in muscle-test responses between congruent and incongruent semantic stimuli.

So in summary, muscle response testing is a useful and scientifically validated tool. It is not voodoo. It is also not infallible, because it depends on human factors. For many people, it is a very worthwhile member of their decision making repertoire.

Lee A. Bowers, Ph.D. is a Licensed Psychologist and board-certified in Medical Psychology. She can be reached at 610-520-0443 or www.drleebowers.com.