What are the basics of AK muscle testing?

• AK is diagnostic; it is not a treatment procedure

• AK diagnostic techniques can be used with with any adjusting technique

• AK employs muscle testing with other standard methods of diagnosis

• AK muscle tests require psychomotor skill that is learned and improved over time

• Muscle testing performed without other forms of evaluation or by an unskilled practitioner is typically no better than a psychic reading

• There are over 100 articles on AK published in peer-reviewed journals.

• Muscle testing, as practiced by a skilled physician, is part of the neurological examination; it is not energy medicine
• A specific MMT evaluates the status of the anterior horn motor neuron pool and is determined to be either facilitated (“strong”), conditionally inhibited (“weak”), or over-facilitated (unable to inhibit or “over-strong”)

AK muscle testing is about:

• Isolating individual muscles by eliminating synergist substitution

• Lining up the origin and insertion points and testing in line with the muscle fibres

• Using therapy localisation to determine the location of a problem

• Controlling for factors like recruitment and force vector

• Using indicator muscles to test structures such as joints, tendons, and other muscles that cannot be tested directly

• Using indicator tests to determine the direction of traction or thrust necessary for the optimum correction

Objectives of this Seminar

• To learn the history of AK muscle testing, why is so widely misunderstood and why it has so many critics

• To learn how to muscle test following AK principles

• To learn how to find structural issues quickly using these tests

• To learn how to confirm that your correction worked and how to show that to the patient

• To learn how to use muscle testing diagnostic techniques with any adjusting technique

• To learn how to improve confidence and patient compliance no matter your style of adjusting

Format

• Each hour is about 15 minutes of instruction, 45 minutes of practice
• Participants will practice testing each other in a rotating fashion with coaching from the instructor
• Adjustments will be done after everyone has been tested
• Bring your portable tables!

How are AK muscle tests different from ordinary manual testing?

• All modern manual muscle tests are derived from the muscle testing principles developed in the 1960s by George Goodheart, DC
• Goodheart’s work established AK as a clinical subcategory of chiropractic
• Manual Muscle Testing that does not follow the principles of AK is by definition an imitation
• Many strength testing concepts are taught by physical therapists, manual therapists, and sports chiropractors
• AK muscle testing is the gold standard for Doctors of Chiropractic
• AK tests are about proprioceptive response; i.e. neurological function, not strength
• AK tests the CNS, not peripheral or spinal nerves

Location