Applied Kinesiology

Applied Kinesiology, or “AK” for short, is a system of diagnostics and therapeutics that was the brain child of Dr. George Goodheart, a second generation chiropractor out of Michigan.

Goodheart also served with distinction as a Major in the armed forces during WW II at the age of only 26. He was awarded the Bronze Star for inventing a mechanism that was used on P-47 war planes.

The system created by Goodheart began when he observed a functional change in a patient that had persistent pain from a “winging scapula” condition. After “rubbing out” some nodulations in the muscle, the scapula no longer “winged” and the pain was gone. This lead Goodheart to investigate much more deeply into what caused such a profound change.

Eventually, he sought to discover what link could exist between muscle and organ function. After much “trial and error,” Goodheart liked to say, “a lot of trial and a lot of error,” he developed a therapeutic system of assessing the body through manual muscle testing.

In short, if a muscle is “weak”, meaning that the muscle will not “lock” on muscle testing, the practitioner can check a number of factors to see what will “strengthen” the muscle. Those factors include nerve supply, reflex points, acupuncture points, craniosacral faults, emotional points, and nutrition. By finding what factor “strengthens” the muscle, a specific therapy can be applied to strengthen or facilitate that specific muscle.

For example, if the tensor fascia lata is weak (that’s a muscle along the side of the leg) then working on reflex points for the Large Intestine or giving a probiotic may “strengthen” that muscle. Different muscles correspond to different organs, so if a muscle is “weak,” AK can reveal the underlying cause of the dysfunction, reveal what is needed for correction, and can then demonstrate if that intervention was successful.

It is important to note that AK does not replace standard medical diagnostics or intervention, but is useful to augment the understanding of a patient’s condition alongside conventional medical diagnostics. While AK can be helpful in treating musculoskeletal conditions, it has been found useful in application to all organ systems.