Applied Kinesiology Past, Present, and Future
FEATURE
Scott Cuthbert
Applied kinesiology (AK) is a chiropractic assessment and treatment method developed by George J. Goodheart, Jr. Dr. Goodheart’s father was an osteopath and chiropractor whom he worked with for many years, only interrupted when he enlisted in the Air Force during World War II. He was the youngest flyer to attain the rank of major at the age of 22, and he received the Bronze Star. He graduated from the National College of Chiropractic in 1939 and passed away in 2008 at 89, completing a lifetime committed to chiropractic.
Goodheart’s work drew a large following of doctors and recognition. In 1976, Goodheart founded the International College of Applied Kinesiology (ICAK) to promote the research and teaching of AK.1 The chiropractic historian, Dr. Joseph Keating (1992) applauded the organization:2
“Few chiropractic membership organizations in the U.S. can claim to have been founded or to function primarily for scholarly or scientific purposes. (The Association for the His-
tory of Chiropractic—AHC—and the International College of Applied Kinesiology—ICAK—are exemplary of these few.) ... There are few organizations of field doctors which can make a similar claim”.
The ICAK played several roles in the development of applied kinesiology. There have been more than 2,500 papers published by and for members of the organization.3 From these, literature reviews and time series outcome reports (regarding more than 10,000 patients), including detailed procedures of examination and treatment, have emerged. These reports serve as the basis for many of the case studies, quantitative clinical series and surveys, and validity and reliability studies that have been published in the peer-reviewed literature.4
The appeal of this chiropractic examination tool—the manual muscle test, or MMT—is that, when used properly, it can indicate a broad array of human dysfunctions (biomechanical, biochemical, and biopsy chosocial). This has made AK popular so that today almost half of the chiropractic profession uses some style of the AK skills first introduced by Goodheart and the ICAKUSA. In a survey by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners in 2000, 43.2% of respondents stated that they used applied kinesiology in their practices, up from 37.2% of
respondents who reported they used AK in 1991,5-6 with similar numbers reported in Australia.7
Goodheart was a director of the National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Company from 1974 to 1989, and was given the Chiropractor of the Year Award by the Michigan State Chiropractic Association in 1965, 1971, and 1980. Goodheart was also invited as the first chiropractor to be a part of the U.S. Olympic Sports Medicine Committee (1980) for the XIII Olympic Winter Games, a historic first.
^Goodheart’s method of teaching was similar to D. D. Palmer’s, which involved constant traveling and included teaching classes filled with students from all of the healing professions. J 5
Goodheart began writing about his observations in the chiropractic college and trade journals of the 1950s and 1960s. Subsequently, he produced yearly Applied Kinesiology Research Manuals (from 1964 to 2007),8 including monthly audio tapes, for more than 40 years. Goodheart published some of the first in-office time series clinical research seen in the chiropractic profession in its only national journal of the time, Chiropractic Economics. A bibliography of all of Goodheart’s writings is available.3
Goodheart’s method of teaching was similar to D. D. Palmer’s, which involved constant traveling and included teaching classes filled with students from all of the healing professions. Goodheart traveled the world initially teaching chiropractors the benefits of this new chiropractic diagnostic system. Invitations began to pour in for him to address dental, medical, and osteopathic conventions.
Interdisciplinary AK Associations and Concepts
The first book to describe the value of AK to other professions was AK and the Stomatognathic System, authored by Dr. Harold Gelb, a dentist, and Goodheart in 1977.9 This was one of the first interprofessional offers for a chiropractor to
write for a medical and dental text. Dr. Gelb founded the Craniomandibular Pain Center at Tufts University College of Dental Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Gelb and his team have used manual muscle testing and the methods developed by Goodheart and ICAK in the evaluation of patients with TMD ever since. They have published a substantial body of research on the relationship between muscle imbalances and TMD.10"12 Significant inroads into the dental profession have been made byAK.13'14
The association of muscle strength with acupuncture meridian function in applied kinesiology has been studied now for almost 50 years since Dr. Goodheart introduced it into the chiropractic profession.15 In AK, the muscular system is used as a measure of meridian response and function. Testing of these approaches has shown positive results.16
The association of muscle strength with craniosacral function has also offered chiropractors another method of analyzing this fascinating system of physiological function. The importance of muscular dysfunction to the concept of a “cranial-sacral primary respiratory mechanism” and in the etiology of neck pain and headache has been demonstrated with AK.17
The popularity of AK and the MMT is evidenced by the other chiropractic “name techniques” that have evolved fi'omAK. The founders of these systems were all students of Dr. Goodheart, and each of these systems incorporates many of the MMTs and neurological reflexes and procedures developed in AK as part of their diagnostic systems, making the “AK family of techniques” far larger. These include:
• Neuro emotional technique (NET)18
• Quintessential applications (QA)19
• Neural organization technique
(NOT)20
• Clinical kinesiology21
• Contact reflex analysis (CRA)22
• Total body modification (TBM)23
• Nutritional response testing24
In Europe, some 3,000 MDs and osteopaths now use applied kinesiology as part of their diagnostic regimen.25
The AK method of MMT has also spread beyond chiropractic as well, to include systems with names such as:
• Thought field therapy (TFT)26 (from whence emotional freedom technique is derived)
• Behavioral kinesiology (BK)27
• Nearly 100 systems of “kinesiology” around the world.28
Some of the claims made by these nonchiropractic systems of treatment have not been confirmed by scientific research, and because they claim to be “AK,” the ICAK had to distance itself from some of these derivations.29
Broadening the Chiropractor’s Scope of Practice
After being exposed to the work and ideas of Kendall and Kendall, who produced the most comprehensive textbook on manual muscle testing up to this time, Goodheart sought to understand in greater detail than anyone before the fact that motion in the spine and the rest of the body is the result of muscular
^In recent years, chiropractic and manual medical research and theory have confirmed Goodheart’s initial insights by highlighting the role of muscles, joints, and nerves in the function of the neuromusculoskeletal system. 5 5
action. In recent years, chiropractic and manual medical research and theory have confirmed Goodheart’s initial insights by highlighting the role of muscles, joints, and nerves in the function of the neuromusculoskeletal system. This system has been described as the “primary machinery of life,” since it is how we, and all tissues within us, move and communicate.
In a narrative literature review published in 2007, Goodheart showed that the manual muscle test (MMT) is a reliable and valid functional assessment tool.30 It is reasonable to assume that improvement in manual muscle test results during AK care are associated with improved patient outcomes.31
D. D. Palmer believed that chiropractic had broad significance for human health and well-being (embodied in his concepts of neural and muscular “tone”). Chiropractic outcomes and tradition include care not only for neuromusculoskeletal conditions, but also for biochemical, hormonal, and endocrine conditions, biopsychosocial disorders, pediatrics, a broad range of what today are considered autonomically mediated and stress-related conditions, and, indeed, nearly the gamut of human health
problems.3
Ongoing Substantiation and AK Research
Dr. Goodheart was one of the best-known chiropractic clinical researchers who presented his findings to the profession for two decades before the era of evidencebased medicine. More than 60 studies investigating applied kinesiology are now indexed in PubMed and Medline, showing how AK care integrates with interdisciplinary fields such as dentistry, sports medicine (e.g., endocrinology, neurology, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, gynecology) osteopathy, naturopathy, nutrition, acupuncture, pediatrics, and pregnancy. In fact, applied kinesiology now has its own MeSH heading at PubMed.
Growing from Goodheart’s initial published work throughout the chiropractic and biomedical literature of the time, there are now some 38 published textbooks in five languages about AK alone (with dozens more from the systems derived from AK), and eight more textbooks with chapters in them specifically covering AK. An AK research compendium is available at the ICAK websites and encompasses more than 1,500 citations from the peer-reviewed scientific literature relating to AK
^The advantage of the musculoskeletal system in evaluating total body function is that it is easy to evaluate by proper manual muscle testing. ÏÏ
theory and practice.3
The ICAKUSA hired Dr. Anthony Rosner, former head of the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research, as its research director after Dr. Goodheart’s passing. This resulted in many new research projects and papers, including one that substantiates (electromyographically) a cornerstone diagnostic method of AK called therapy localization, or TL. This research was presented at the Third International Association of Functional Neurology and Rehabilitation Conference and will be published soon.32
AK is a paradigm of chiropractic health care that easily integrates with all of the adjusting systems that have been developed in our profession. Goodheart’s work offers chiropractors an in-depth knowledge of the interactive nature of body function and offers additional approaches for correction. The interaction between the musculoskeletal system with all of the other systems of the body is important for chiropractors to recognize. The advantage of the musculoskeletal system in evaluating total body function is that it is easy to evaluate by proper manual muscle testing.
References
1. Green BN, Gin, RH. George Goodheart, Jr., D.C., and a history of applied kinesiology. J Manipulative Physiol Ther, 1997;20(5):331-337.
2. Keating J. Toward a philosophy of the science of chiropractic: a primer for clinicians. Stockton Foundation for Chiropractic Research, Stockton, CA. 1992:91.
3. ICAKUSA Research Compendia. http://www.icakusa.com/research/.
4. Applied Kinesiology Research, http:// appliedkinesiologyresearch.blogspot. com/.
5. Christensen MG, Delle Morgan DR. 1994 Job analysis of chiropractic in Australia and New Zealand: a project report, survey analysis, and summary of the practice of chiropractic within Australia and New Zealand. Greeley, CO: National Board of Chiropractic Examiners 92:152.
6. Christensen MG, Delle Morgan DR. 1993 Job analysis of chiropractic: a project report, survey analysis, and summary of the practice of chiropractic within the United States. Greeley, CO: National Board of Chiropractic Examiners 78.
7. LeBoeuf C. A survey of registered chiropractors practicing in South Australia in 1986. J Aust Chiro Assoc. 1988: 105-10.
8. Goodheart GJ, Jr. Applied Kinesiology Research Manuals. Privately published: Detroit, MI; 1964-1998. Available now
from: http://www.icakusa.com/.
9. Gelb H. Clinical management of head, neck and TMJ pain and dysfunction. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA, 1977.
10. Sakaguchi K, Mehta NR, Abdallah EF, Forgione AG, Hirayama H, Kawasaki T, Yokoyama A. Examination of the relationship between mandibular position and body posture. Cranio. 2007;25(4):237-49. (Research conducted at Tufts Craniofacial Pain Center).
11. Gelb H, Mehta NR, Forgione AG. The relationship between jaw posture and muscular strength in sports dentistry: a reappraisal. Cranio. 1996 Oct;14(4):320-5.
12. Gelb H, Ed. The dental clinics of North America: symposium on temporomandibular joint dysfunction and treatment. WB Saunders Company: Philadelphia; 1983:613-630. (Chapter 13)
13. Gelb H, Ed. New concepts in craniomandibular and chronic pain management. Mosby-Wolfe: London; 1994:349-368. (Chapter 15)
14. Eversaul G. Dental kinesiology. Privately published; 1977.
15. Goodheart GJ, Jr. Chinese lessons for chiropractic. Chiro Econ. 1966; 8(5);Mar/Apr: 10-11.
16. Applied kinesiology and traditional Chinese medicine: 170-205. In: Applied Kinesiology Essentials: The Missing Link in Health Care. The Gangasas Press: Pueblo, CO; 2014:170-205.
17. Walther DS. Applied kinesiology, volume II. Head, neck, and jaw pain and dysfunction — the stomatognathic system. Systems DC: Pueblo, CO; 1983.
18. Neuro emotional technique, https://www.netmindbody.com/.
19. Quintessential applications, http://www.quintessentialapplications.com/.
20. Neural organization technique, http://www.neuralorganizationtechnique. net/.
21. Clinical kinesiology, http://www.clinicalkinesiology.com/.
22. Contact reflex analysis, https://www.crawellnessartists.com/about/.
23. Total body modification, http://www.tbmseminars.com/.
24. Ulan Nutritional Systems, Inc. http://www.unsinc.info/.
25.ICAK-International website: http://www.icak.com/.
26. Thought field therapy, http://www.rogercallahan.com/index.php.
27. Behavioral kinesiology, http://www.drjohndiamond.com/ papers/45-kinesiology/main-kinesiology/106-behavioral-kinesiology-a-different-procedure.
28. Kinesiology Network, http://www.kinesiology.net/.
29. Rosner AL, Cuthbert SC. Applied kinesiology: distinctions in its definition and interpretation. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2012 Oct;16(4):464-87.
30. Cuthbert SC, Goodheart GJ. On the reliability and validity of manual muscle testing: a literature review. Chiropr Osteopat. 2007;15: 4.
31. Hahne AJ, Keating JL, Wilson SC. Do within-session changes in pain intensity and range of motion predict between-session changes in patients with low back pain? Aust JPhysiother. 2004;50(1): 17-23.
32. Rosner A, Leisman G, Gilchriest J, Charles E, Keschner M, Minond M. Therapy localization in applied kinesiology: Reliability and validity. Journal of Functional Neurology, Rehabilitation & Ergonomics. 2012;2(4): 390-391.
Dysfunctions Essentials: Applied Scott The Kinesiology: Cuthbert, Missing (2014), Clinical is the Link a 1997 author in Techniques Health graduate of Applied Care of for Lower Palmer Kinesiology (2014) Body Chiroand practic College (Davenport) andpractices in Pueblo, Colorado. [email protected]. Please consider becoming a
member of ICAKUSA; attendingAK training courses offered by ICAK Diplomates around the country throughout the year; attending the ICAKUSA s Annual Meeting in Chicago July 30 through August 2, 2015; or simply becoming more familiar with AK by visiting the ICAKUSA website at www.ICAKUSA.com.
