Kinesiology is a holistic system of health care which utilizes the body's own wisdom. It is the conflation of western chiropractic with traditional Chinese medicine, and its primary tool is muscle monitoring. Muscle monitoring (testing) is the technique of using the response of a muscle to determine imbalances in the body and the most effective way of resolving them.
In short, this is what kinesiology will do:
Identify what the problem or issue is (not a medical diagnosis), and perhaps the emotions involved and the past experiences which precipitated it.
Identify the meridians (energy channels) associated with the issue and the kinesiological corrections to help restore qi (energy) balance.
Determine the most effective additional corrections and remedies to resolve the issue and their application, dosage, and duration of treatment.
Of course kinesiology is not only concerned with issues; it is a very effective means of maintaining balance and good health and assisting with optimum performance. Indeed, its applications are limitless, since muscle monitoring can be used in combination with any form of treatment.
Performing a muscle test
Muscle monitoring is often carried out in this way. A muscle is contracted in such a way that, as far as possible, the muscle is isolated from others that would help synergistically. The body is given a stimulus (which might be a remedy, a suspected allergen, or even a verbal question or statement) and, at the same time, the muscle is tested by using gentle pressure to move it towards extension. The response of the muscle (either maintaining the contraction or 'unlocking') indicates the body's response to that stimulus.
There are many ways of using muscle monitoring. We can work from a locking muscle and (for example) introduce a suspected allergen, which will be confirmed by an unlocking muscle. Or we can work with a muscle that is unable to lock satisfactorily (indicating an existing imbalance), and introduce a remedy, whose efficacy will be confirmed by a locking muscle. We can ask yes-or-no questions, and expect that the body will give a locking muscle response for a yes answer and an unlocking response for a no answer.
To perform a muscle test we would isolate the anterior deltoid muscle for monitoring (while standing) by holding the straight arm 20–30 degrees up from the thigh. The test involves pressing the arm gently (just above the wrist) in a downward direction to gauge the response of the muscle. Without any stimulus, the muscle should lock, unless there is already an imbalance affecting it. The anterior deltoid muscle is tested again, with the introduction of a stimulus. If the muscle is unable to lock and the arm goes down (or the testee recruits other muscles in an attempt to hold the arm in place) the body has responded to that stimulus.
Muscle monitoring is more an art than a science. Every individual will develop his or her own style. Some kinesiological schools advocate a heavy muscle test rather than the gentle one outlined here. There are many variables and opportunities for error. Before testing commences a number of pre-tests are conducted, and corrections made where necessary, to help ensure accurate muscle testing. These include tests for switching (confusion) of the body's electrical circuits, hydration, and neuromuscular spindle cell response. When the body is under more severe stress, muscles may not 'turn off', and the 'response' to any stimulus will be the same: a locking (or 'overfacilitated') muscle. Proper training is required for competent use of muscle monitoring.
Kinesiology will identify the stressors or issue (this is a holistic rather than a medical type of diagnosis). An issue may have many elements and many antecedents. Kinesiology can identify the past traumas, learnt behaviours, emotions, nutritional and environmental factors, and so on, associated with an issue. It can also identify the affected meridians (energy channels).
The muscle-meridian link
The emergence of kinesiology as a new, autonomous discipline is a result of the combining of discoveries made by western chiropractors and osteopaths with the acupuncture system of traditional Chinese medicine.
When George Goodheart first began to experiment with muscle testing it was a way to determine the functioning of a muscle and nothing more. He soon discovered that muscle testing provided much more information than simply about the muscle itself.
By the late 1960s Goodheart had made a number of discoveries (such as the origin–insertion technique) which he found were able to ‘strengthen’ muscles which were not functioning properly. He had also begun to utilize the remarkable findings of other therapists in his field (such as neurolymphatic and neurovascular reflexes) which he found also helped to strengthen various muscles.
Goodheart discovered a link between individual muscles and organs of the body. When a particular organ was affected by an ailment, specific muscles would fail to lock when tested. For example, he found a person with stomach ulcers would also have an unlocking pectoralis major clavicular muscle. He also found that the corrections he had collated to help the pectoralis major clavicular to lock seemed also to help the stomach ulcers to heal. The corrections he was using therefore not only helped muscles to function properly but also benefited the organs which appeared to be associated with the muscle. This was a groundbreaking discovery.
When he added the Chinese acupuncture system to his work he found that specific meridians (energy channels) related to specific muscles. He found, for example, that the pectoralis major clavicular (PMC) seemed to relate to the stomach meridian, and techniques to support the stomach meridian would help an unlocking PMC muscle to lock.
Each of the twelve major acupuncture channels, and the central and governing vessels, have specific major muscles associated with them. This provided Goodheart with a completely new way of testing energy imbalances in the body. Now kinesiology was a complete system which was able to borrow at will from the Chinese tradition. But where the Chinese practitioner examines the tongue, the hue of the skin, the odour, and the subtle pulses on the wrist to measure energy imbalances, the kinesiologist can simply monitor different muscles of the body.
The kinesiologist can also use a single muscle (such as the anterior deltoid mentioned above) as a general indicator muscle to communicate directly with the whole body and all of its meridians. This allows muscle monitoring to work in a way comparable with the ideo-motor response in hypnotherapy (where a finger signal indicates unconscious yes-and-no responses in trance), but in kinesiology the client remains fully conscious.
Finding the best remedy
Kinesiology will identify the most propitious methods drawn from traditional Chinese medicine and its chiropractic antecedents to resolve an issue. It will also identify the best treatments from any repertory. A practitioner with any set of skills or remedies can find out, through muscle monitoring, which are the most effective for the client.
This means that you don’t have to be a kinesiologist to use this wonderful tool. Muscle monitoring can greatly benefit the work of any practitioner and researcher. It will ensure that the client gets the best possible treatment. For example:
The homoeopath or herbalist finds out which of a number of different pertinent remedies to choose.
The flower essence practitioner prepares the most effective combination of essences.
The nutritionist identifies the foods or supplements that are lacking (or should be avoided).
Whatever products a practitioner employs, muscle monitoring can be used to identify those that are the most helpful – as well as those which are detrimental – to the body. It can identify the most effective aromatherapy oil or most beneficial brand of vitamin E supplement. Remember, this is entirely individual and relates to the present moment. What is best for one individual at a specific time is not necessarily the best for other individuals or even for the same individual at a different time.
Muscle monitoring in practice
This is a much-simplified example of how it works.
1 With the client lying on the couch, the kinesiologist performs the pre-checks to make sure their systems are working properly to give accurate results.
2 The client thinks about their issue while a muscle is tested. The muscle unlocks, since the issue stresses the body.
3 The kinesiologist uses a technique called circuit retaining mode to hold the issue on line. By using circuit retaining mode the muscle will continue to unlock when tested, even in the absence of the stimulus that initially caused the muscle to unlock. The muscle will only lock when a correction is introduced that will help the problem (or when the retaining mode is released).
4 The kinesiologist introduces the remedies he or she employs by placing them on the navel of the client, one by one, muscle testing for each remedy.
5 The remedy which produces a locking muscle will help to resolve the issue.
The client's body has informed both therapist and client of the remedy which is most effective of the options provided. This takes all the guesswork out of prescribing courses of treatment. Knowing the best remedy, the kinesiologist can test for the dosage, number of applications, optimum times of day to take the remedy, and duration of treatment. The kinesiologist can also find out whether this remedy is enough or whether additional treatments are required and what they would be.
The kinesiology client is happy in the knowledge that his or her own body selected the most effective and appropriate remedy.