Muscle Testing
Good afternoon everyone!
We hope that everyone had a great weekend. It was another good day for UT Athletics with another commanding victory over Kent State!
Today, we wanted to talk about our examination process in the office and what happens in the body when things feel off. Both Dr. Petty and Dr. Brower utilize muscle testing to see what needs to be adjusted in a patient. You may be asking "How does a weak muscle show me anything about my health?" and that is a great question.
Within your body you have many different sensors. You have sensors in your eyes that allow you to see and multiple sensors within your skin allowing you to feel and distinguish different sensations like touch, pressure, hot/cold, etc. Around every joint within your body you have sensors that read the range of motion of that specific joint and then give the brain information about proprioception, or where your bones are in space. If a muscle can move a joint it is in a feedback loop with it and this loop is affected when the joints are "off" (subluxated).
Over time and especially with trauma the joints of the body that should be freely moving start to stick together. When the joints stick together the sensors don't get the information they need and that affects the information the brain gets about the location of your bones in space. This negatively impacts the feedback loop between the muscles and the joints and causes the muscles to lose some strength. This then allows incorrect muscles to fire and compensate for the weak muscles, which then causes the patient pain and tension within the affected muscles.
In the medical field, our jobs as chiropractors are to restore the motion in the affected joints and to restore the feedback loop to its normal function. This is done through adjusting the joints. Restoring the range of motion the sensors around the joint will get the necessary information to give to the brain and reduce pain and tension and improve range of motion at the joint adjusted, as well as the spine in general.
This weakness, or "wimpiness" is different from muscle atrophy. The weakness we see within the muscles is due to a disruption within the feedback loop, with no visible effect on the muscle. Muscle atrophy will cause weakness within the muscle and the muscle itself may grow smaller due to the lack of usage. By the end of the appointment and after adjusting the joints we should see the "wimpy" muscle become strong again, whereas there may still be deficits within the muscle strength if there is atrophy.
In the office our doctors perform muscle testing with every patient at every visit in order to assess what is going on with the patient's body. This allows us to target a specific area with either adjustments or muscle work to get everything functioning normally.
That is a basic run down of our examinations and why we do muscle testing within the office. Our patients swear by the testing and many new patients are amazed at the results they can immediately see and feel. If you are new to the office and this interests you please call our office at (865)-675-5050 to schedule an appointment and see how the process works!
Stay tuned for another post next week!
Yours in Health,
Concord Chiropractic Clinic Staff
