What is muscle testing?
Muscle testing is a practical technique that can be used clinically for numerous reasons. Simply put, a muscle testing in a clinical practice is when a practitioner tests the strength of a muscle of the body. During a muscle test, the practitioner uses a small amount force against a specific muscle that the patient tries to match (the important word being match, not overpower). The result of a muscle test has two outcomes, strength or weakness.
Strength means that the patient can hold against the force of the physician’s hand, and a weak muscle is when the muscle cannot contract and has a weaker force than the force exerted by the physician. It is important to note that strength and weakness are not indicative of how strong a patient is. A muscle test is the nervous system’s response to a stimulus. A body builder with above average strength can have a weak muscle test when given a stimulus that weakens their nervous system. A stimulus can be any number of things.
For example, a food, an emotion, an organ or gland, a medication, a supplement can be used as stimuli. So, if that body builder is lactose intolerant and a glass of milk is used in the muscle test, a positive or weak test will result. On the flip side, a weak test that strengthens to a stimulus, such as an herb or nutrient, is also valuable. Both strong and weak muscle tests provide important information and can guide clinical decision-making.
Muscle testing in practice
There are many advantages of muscle testing. Let’s look at real life example. A patient comes in with a history of thyroid disease and takes thyroid medication. They have been taking supplements for thyroid support but are not sure if they are making a difference and still experience symptoms of a low functioning thyroid. In this case, a doctor would use muscle testing to identify the organs and glands that need support and then identified the nutritional supplements that benefit those organs. Testing both the thyroid and adrenal glands created weak muscle tests.
In this case, let’s say that the adrenal glands showed as needing the most support. The doctor tested herbs and nutrients that support the adrenal glands and found the specific combination that supported both the adrenal glands and the thyroid. This allowed for more targeted support and to find nutritional supplements to support both the adrenals and thyroid instead of the patient needing to purchase two separate supplements for each gland. This is but one example of when muscle tests are used practically and can eliminate the guesswork of knowing which supplement to choose.
Is muscle testing right for me?
Muscle testing offers immediate feedback from your nervous system. Our bodies are incredibly intelligent and give us valuable information when we know what to ask them. The response from your nervous system can inform your physician about next steps in what your body needs. In the clinical example, using a muscle test offered information about what glands needed treatment priority as well as which nutrients to use. But please note: muscle testing is not a replacement for comprehensive lab testing. Muscle testing is also not always a necessary or appropriate tool to address a condition and is not meant to be used as the sole tool for medical decision making. A skilled and thoughtful physician will combine the feedback from the muscle test with her clinical knowledge and any other relevant clinical history, physical signs and symptoms, or lab results to create a treatment plan.
About the author
Rachel Paran is a Naturopathic Physician at Heart Spring Health in the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. She is a graduate of Sonoran University of Health Sciences in Arizona where she developed a passion for using hands-on therapeutic techniques to address functional imbalances. She has accumulated over 200 hours of training in Applied Kinesiology and muscle testing. She also practices visceral manipulation and craniosacral therapy, educated through the Barral Institute and Upledger Institute, respectively.
