Applied Kinesiology Essay

“Whenever a new discovery is reported to the scientific world, they first say, “it is probably not true.” Therefore, when the truth of the new proposition has been demonstrated beyond question, they say, “yes, it may be true but it is not important.” Finally when sufficient time has elapsed to fully evidence its importance, they say, “yes, surely it is important but it is no longer new.”.” –Michel De Montaigne, 16th century. Kinesiology is defined as the study of muscle and body movements; whereas, applied kinesiology is defined as the diagnostic phenomenon of a muscle weakening when a person experienced anxiety or when they make a false statement. The art of applied kinesiology was founded in 1964 by a chiropractor in Detroit by the name of Dr. George J. Goodheart Jr. today. Kinesiology is based on the theory
that organ dysfunctions or glandular dysfunctions can be caused by muscles that have improper amounts of tension or tone. About five thousand professionals practice applied kinesiology in America, most of which are chiropractors.
The practitioners claim that they are able to locate a weak muscle, stemming from many different causes such as allergies, problems with the lymphatic system, and mineral and vitamin deficiencies. The way that a chiropractor would go about using this treatment method on a patient is by using a series of muscle tests to find the problem areas or muscles. After he finds the muscle that is weak thus causing the allergy or pain the then uses his fingertips and gently massages the appropriate acupuncture points to rebalance the flow of energy throughout the body and restore health to the individual. This procedure is very gentle, noninvasive, safe for all ages, and has absolutely no side affects to it. The first case of this method with Dr.Goodheart was when he noted that a patient had significant weakness in his right serratus anticus muscle, which prevented him from pushing his arm forward, but there was no change in muscle size. However, when Dr.Goodheart touched the muscle on the points of origin and insertion there were nodules that were very
painful. Goodheart then proceeded to rub the nodules at the origin and insertion points thus “resting” the muscle. He noticed immediate strengthening of the patient’s previously weak serratus anticus.
In it’s purist application, applied kinesiology uses the phenomenon that when “tested” via muscle strength testing, the body can’t lie. It will not test strong to a simple muscle test if the question being asked evokes any level of anxiety or untruth. Applied kinesiology can be useful for college students in the classroom as well. An example of this would be If the student has studied for a test that is multiple choice test and know the tested material but cannot come to a satisfied answer choice, test the strength of a muscle or limb and say every potential answer in our head and the answer with the strongest test is probably the right one. When your cognitive senses fail your body will know best! Although there is no biological evidence that kinesiology works there is lots of ongoing research being conducted to make the connection between emotions and cells of the body.