Dr. George Goodheart, a chiropractor from Michigan, developed Applied Kinesiology starting in 1964. He found that he was able to change a weak muscle instantly to being a strong muscle during a treatment by applying various manual techniques. With research and his tenacity, he was able to associate all of the muscles of the body to a specific organ or gland as well as an acupuncture meridian. AK has consistently developed treatment techniques and incorporated manual therapies from other professions into an eclectic mix.

 

Muscle testing is a basic premise for diagnosing imbalances within the body, but the muscle test is not a stand alone diagnosis. The AK doctor utilizes the muscle testing results along with standard physical, neurological, orthopedic, laboratory, and x-ray examinations.

 

A basic tenet of both chiropractic and AK is the Triad of Health, represented in the picture above and to the left. The premise is that there are three categories that health problems fit in to - Structural (back pain, ankle sprains, headaches, fractures, etc.); Mental (depression, anxiety, stress, etc.); and Chemical (ulcers, anemias, hormone imbalances, etc.). The interesting part is that while the doctor may be able to put a health problem into one of these three categories, they are also aware that the other two categories are most likely affecting that problem. The applied kinesiologist utilizes all of the testing necessary to discover what aspects of the person's physiology needs attention in order to correct their problem.

 

An example is back pain. Logically, you would put back pain in the Structural category with structural type therapies applied for treatment of the pain. But, as applied kinesiologists, the doctors here would also look at mental factors that may be stessing the patient and affecting the muscle and ligamentous tissue in the back contributing to the back pain. Chemical factors would also be examined for. Things such as too much coffee, sugar, or hydrogenated fats will add to the inflammatory load of the body and not only contribute to, but actually prevent back pain from clearing up.