What is Applied Kinesiology Muscle Testing and How Does it Work?

"How did my muscle just get stronger when you pressed on my spine?"

This is a common question that patients, especially athletes who tend to know their bodies very well, will ask their Applied Kinesiologist.

When you experience your first examination and treatment with a doctor who specializes in Applied Kinesiology (AK) it seems impossible that your muscles will test at apparently different strengths in a matter of seconds. The reason this is possible is that Applied Kinesiologists are not measuring your muscle's strength... they are measuring your muscle's function. This reading of your muscle function can change just like your blood pressure measurement can change depending on current stimuli. (i.e. White Coat Syndrome)

Not knowing that a muscle test performed by a trained Applied Kinesiologist is NOT a strength test and actually represents a reading of your nervous system and therefore can change immediately is where much of the misunderstanding of AK stems from!

This Introduction to Applied Kinesiology Video is meant for doctors. However, I think you will find it illuminating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgEyZXnqqpk

You might find it interesting to know how this innovative and growing healthcare discipline can improve your health and help you to live pain-free.  Here is my explanation of What is Applied Kinesiology Muscle Testing and How Does it Work?

"Applied Kinesiology (AK) muscle testing represents a window into your overall health. Instead of using manual muscle testing as a measure of 'disability,' your Applied Kinesiologist uses muscle testing as a measure of 'ability'.

Before AK, the results of muscle strength testing were thought to be static like seeing a fracture on an x-ray. In 1964, Dr George Goodheart’s breakthrough discovery was that muscle 'weakness' was not necessarily a pathological problem, but could be a functional one.

When used as part of a thorough examination by a doctor certified in Applied Kinesiology, manual muscle testing can be a diagnostic tool as a dynamic measure of relative function not as a static label of absolute disability.

  Not only can muscle testing indicate the proper therapy to treat a specific musculoskeletal condition, but Applied Kinesiologists eventually found it could be a predicator of overall health.

  AK muscle testing magnifies the depth of the meaning of the muscle test similar to what a microscope does to the magnifying glass; it reveals more of what is happening deep in your physiology. This is why AK manual muscle testing can find health issues that many other less refined diagnostic tests may miss. A problem cannot exist unless a solution also exists and AK Muscle Testing may find the solution to what is causing your problem when it doesn't show up on x-rays, MRIs or blood tests."

Best of Health,

Dr. Eugene Charles

To find an applied kinesiologist in your area go to:

http://www.charlesseminars.com/AKdoctors.html OR http://www.icakusa.com

Doctors can begin to learn the AK Certification Course through either:

DVD Training -http://www.charlesseminars.com/producs.html

OR

Online Courses- https://drcharlesonline.com

Spinal Manipulation is recognized by Medical Doctors to help with Low Back Pain

1. In previous entries you learned how Low Back Pain is the #1 Cause of disability worldwide and how Spinal Manipulation can help you. https://charlesseminars.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/how-does-a-chiropractic-adjustment-work-and-why-is-it-so-important-to-overall-health/ 2. You have learned how a Chiropractic Adjustment Works and Why It is so important to Overall Health.  https://charlesseminars.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/how-does-a-chiropractic-adjustment-work-and-why-is-it-so-important-to-overall-health/

3. You also saw how Precise Chiropractic Adjustments may help end America's Opioid Epidemic.  https://charlesseminars.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/how-does-a-chiropractic-adjustment-work-and-why-is-it-so-important-to-overall-health/

4. There was last week's BLOG where  Medscape Orthopedics reported that the fact that spinal manipulation works is now indisputable.                https://charlesseminars.wordpress.com/2017/02/15/spinal-manipulation-for-back-and-neck-pain-does-it-work/

In addition to the above... a new guideline has emerged that came out in the prestigious Annals of Internal Medicine:

Noninvasive Treatments for Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Low Back Pain: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians

In this paper, The American College of Physicians (ACP) developed a guideline to present the evidence and provide clinical recommendations on noninvasive treatment of low back pain.

They provided 3 recommended course of therapy. In the first 2 courses they recommended natural healing modalities such as massage, acupuncture and spinal manipulation. Only in the last one, and only if the patient DID NOT IMPROVE to natural therapies or to drugs such as acetaminophen and non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs such as Tylenol], do they recommend opioids (percocet, oxycontin. etc)

This is a watershed moment for several reasons:

1. It halts the horrific pattern of giving people highly addictive drugs that are reportedly killing approximately 33,000 Americans annually. (and growing fast)
2. It represents a breakthrough that the medical establishment recognizes spinal manipulation to be a first line treatment for people suffering with Low Back Pain.

If Medical Doctors and Doctors of Chiropractic along with acupuncturists, physical therapists and massage therapists can all get on the same page we can help make America the healthiest country in the world instead of the sickest as it currently ranks every year. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13497/us-health-in-international-perspective-shorter-lives-poorer-health

In the meantime, if you were putting off getting your spine aligned get to a doctor of chiropractic - NOW. Ask your healthiest friends for a recommendation or you can find a good one here: http://www.charlesseminars.com/AKdoctors.html

You can read the Annals of Internal Medicine paper in its entirely at this site:  http://annals.org/aim/article/2603228/noninvasive-treatments-acute-subacute-chronic-low-back-pain-clinical-practice

To your excellent health,

Dr. Eugene Charles

America's Opioid Addiction

Last week HBO presented sickening statistics and facts about the staggering damage that opioid drugs are inflicting upon America.    Opioid Addiction The first fact is that, "As of 2015, 2.6 million Americans were addicted to prescription opioids (oxycontin, vicodin, percocet) and heroin. As a consequence these same drugs are involved in nearly 30,000 deaths a year."

Also, "75% of heroin addicts used prescription opioids before turning to heroin..."

Therefore, people got hooked on these highly addicted drugs through their doctors and then as one person said, "I switched to heroin because it is cheaper."

One woman who was featured in the original oxycontin commercial, seen playing with her grandchildren, said in the interview that she became so addicted to oxycontin that she lost everything: her house, her car, her job and the only reason she is now alive is that her medical insurance ran out and wouldn't pay for her monthly prescription.

In fact, two of the seven people featured on the original oxycontin commercial died as active opioid abusers.

To their credit, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued guidelines suggesting doctors use nonopioid therapies when possible and limit the dosage and duration of these highly addictive drugs.

I believe one of the most powerful nonopioid therapies is a Precise Chiropractic Adjustment. 

You might be asking why is this?

The answer is because chiropractic adjustments are like getting a natural dose of healthy opioids from the inside - out.

Now you might be asking how is this?

According to the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Chiropractic Adjustments increase beta endorphins in the blood. Endorphins are your body's natural opioid. Actually, when Candace Pert discovered "endorphins" she gave her discovery this name because she considered them to be "endogenous morphine." Meaning morphine made from within the body.

Therefore, when a person receives a precise chiropractic adjustment the body will release its own natural supply of opioids in a safe, deliberate dosage. This is will lead to a decrease in pain and an elevated mood. (with no side-effects)

Perhaps the best way to stop dependency on external drug use is to get the body to make its own "drugs" by the utilization of nonopioid therapies such as: precise chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, exercise, meditation, laughter, goal setting and proper diet all to naturally access the greatest pharmacy in the world - the human body!