When a patient complains of neck pain or headaches, I first muscle test both the cervical flexor and extension muscles and muscles which when they test bilaterally weak such as the psoas or gluteus maximus suggest a fixation of the cervical vertebrae.
I ask questions: are the muscles weak and therefore affecting the alignment, movement of the cervical vertebrae?
Are one set of muscles weak or inhibited because of compensating (facilitating) muscle.
Or is the opposite true? Is it the hypertonic or facilitated muscle the problem?
Sometimes it’s not the bigger cervical flexor/extensor muscles that are causing pain either directly or by pulling vertebrae out of alignment and putting pressure on the nerves supplying the cervical area.
Sometimes it’s the half inch to inch muscles just below the occipital (base of your skull) that attach it to either the atlas (C1) or the axis (C2) or attach atlas to axis.
These muscles are called the Rectus Capitis Posterior Major, Rectus Capitis Minor, Obliquus Capitis Superior and Obliquus Capitis Inferior.
The Rectus Capitis Posterior Major extends, laterally flexs and rotates the head. The Rectus Capitis Minor extends and laterally flexes the head. The Obliquus Capitis Superior extends and laterally rotates the head. The Obliquus Capitis Inferior rotates C1 and cranium.
Problems with these muscles can pull vertebrae out of alignment and put pressure on the cervical spinal roots and cause neck stiffness, pain and headaches. See dermatome map below for areas of innervation.
Note there is no C1 dermatome. The C1 root innervates the meninges of the posterior fossa of the skull and has no cutaneous branch; the posterior fossa also contains the meningeal branches of vagus and hypoglossal nerve. Neck stiffness may be a test of the C1 root that innervates the meninges.
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In the chiropractic examination which includes orthopedic, neurological and spinal palpation, the addition of applied kinesiology and muscle testing adds an extra dimension of revealing the patient’s health status.
In the 1960’s, Dr George Goodheart found that muscle testing could be used in the evaluation of normal and abnormal body function. His examination soon included evaluation of the vascular and lymphatic system, nutrition, acupoint therapy, cranial movement and other factors that control health. He called this system based on the application of muscle testing: applied kinesiology.
Muscle testing is the first part of the applied kinesiological examination; muscles are tested in a specific manner in different areas of the body. When a weakness is found, the question that the chiropractic/AK doctor has to answer is why the weakness is there.
Is the weakness due to a spinal/nerve problem, a vascular problem, a problem with lymphatic function, a nutritional default, a problem with organ function or an acupoint associated w/ that muscle?
What treatment is needed to correct the problem and improve the patient’s health?
In the process of answering the question, the patient will either place their finger or hand on specific points or areas and the doctor retests the muscle to see if the weakness is corrected. This is called therapy localization.
If the therapy localization is positive and the area involved is the spine or a joint or a cranial fault,, the doctor will move the area in a way to stimulate neuro/mechano receptors in the joint or spine. This is called a “challenge’ and shows the direction of manipulation needed to improve function of the joint/spine and/or cranial movement.
Therapy localization is also used to evaluate if there is a problem w/ the vascular and lymphatic that supply the organs of the body or the meridian/acupoint system that are related to certain organ and muscle function.
In addition to the information from blood tests and examination of hair, eyes, skin, etc, an applied kinesiologist can use muscle testinng to “challenge” the supplements needed or the possibility of food allergies or intolerances that are affecting the patient’s health.
Therefore the addition of applied kinesiology combined with usual examination helps find what the problem is and how to correct it. The correction immediately improves muscle function and decreases the pain or the problem that the patient first came in with to the doctor.
On future visits, the above examination reveals if the corrections held and if the patient’s health is improving.
When health is restored , an applied kinesiologist uses these methods to maintain health and correct problems before they develop.
For information on specific techniques, please read:
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Cranial Sacral Therapy is a technique taught in Applied Kinesiology based on Cranial Osteopathy which was discovered by osteopath Dr. William Sutherland after he had a remarkable insight while examining the specialized articulations of cranial bones. Contrary to popular belief Dr Sutherland realized that cranial sutures were, in fact, designed to express small degrees of motion.
DeJarnette and Goodheart introduced diagnostic methods for the evaluation and treatment of cranial dysfunctions. The key technical factor that has advanced cranial diagnosis and treatment, and brought the entire field of cranial therapy into accessible, reproducible, practice and scientific form, was provided by Goodheart’s discovery that the musculoskeletal system and manual muscle testing (MMT) reflects what is going on within the cranial mechanism.
MMT has allowed applied kinesiologists to discover the dramatic functional relationships that exist between the cranium and every other articulation and tissue in the body. Furthermore, patients are not treated in a “touchy feely” fashion in which the patient’s skull is cradled for an indeterminate time, until the cradler perceives warmth or a yielding or softening sensation.
There are many other physical signs and tests (besides MMT) that also reveal cranial dysfunction; these have been written about extensively in the applied kinesiology (AK), sacro-occipital technique (SOT) and osteopathic literature. Returning the dura to a physiological range of tension by using specifically applied cranial corrections is a major goal of AK evaluation and treatment, which seeks to achieve zero defects inside and outside the cranium.
Like Cranial Osteopathy, Cranial Sacral Therapy seeks to restore the natural rhythmic movement found between the bones of the skull and the sacrum which is correlated to our inspiration and expiration; in other words, the cranial bones and sacrum move in different directions when we breathe in and in opposite directions when we breathe out.
The purpose of this is to aid the circulation of the cerebrospinal fluid throughout the central nervous system.
And some suggested that CSF flow along the cranial nerves and spinal nerve roots allow it into the lymphatic channels. Restoring normal cranial-sacral rhythm enables the body to function optimally and may alleviate a wide variety of painful and dysfunctional conditions within the body.
Using a soft gentle touch practitioners release restrictions in the cranial-sacral system to improve the functioning of the central nervous system.
There are many results why the motion of the cranial and the sacrum may be disturbed.
For some, it can be caused by the trauma of a difficult birth. Normally since the bones are very flexible, normal movement and the act of crying restores the natural movement.
For others, it could have been caused an accidental bang to the head, a fall, whiplash following an auto accident. Jaw problems can also affect the cranials as when we chew or clench our teeth, there are muscles forces directed to the skull such as the pull of the Temporalis muscle on the squamosal suture of the skull. Even the act of holding our breath during physical exertion (we should be breathing out at that moment), can cause a failure of proper cranial and sacral motion.
Dysfunction of the cranial sacral motion can be seen in different problems, even some caused by the entrapment of cranial nerves
as they exit the cranium such as trigeminal neuralgia, headaches, migraines, low back and disc problems, general weakness on one side of the body, problems w/ visual acuity, low or high blood pressure, a spastic ileo-cecal value, neck flexor weakness, allergies, hypochlorhydria, earaches, loss of balance, tinnitus, dizziness and vertigo, recurring upper cervical (neck) problems and scoliosis
In applied kinesiology, there are techniques to find the dysfunctions (or cranial faults) and to find out how to fix it. The difference in muscle strength when the patient is breathing in or breathing out is one clue. The asymmetrical face is another clue that there may be a problem. Or the doctor can observe what happens to the strength of a muscle when she (or he) presses on certain cranials or sutures; this is called a challenge.
Cranial-sacrum corrections are easily made and if incorporated with the correction of accompanying spinal dysfunction, muscle balancing and proper nutrition, it will have a lasting effect.
For more information on cranial- sacral therapy, cerebrospinal fluid, cranial nerves, and the bones of the skull, please see:
– A new patient had a history of not being able to look to her left without turning her body since contacting toxoplasmosis when she was 18; she was now 80 yrs old. She stated that the infection affected her lt eye. Found that the muscles for lt. lat flexion were weak but therapy localization (touching) of the ethmoid bone that makes up the lateral part of the eye socket made the muscles stronger. So I adjusted the bone with an inspiration assist and the muscles were strengthened and the range of motion was improved; in fact the range was now better than the right side.
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So you have severe bloating, and belching, problems w/ elimination and general abdominal discomfort and growing fatigue and other vague medical symptoms. Or you may have been diagnosed w/ either Crohn’s disease or Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the standard procedures are not working for you. You suspect your regular MD thinks you are a hypochondriac but he has agreed to test you for IGE allergies.
But they come back all negative. So now what??
You may need to be tested for IgG food intolerances; a problem that functional medicine and nutritionally minded doctors have been helping with for years but conventional medical doctors are just beginning to look at this phenomenon.
Unlike IgE food allergies that will cause an immediate and maybe deadly reaction such as difficulty breathing or a skin rash or a swollen tongue (think E for emergency); a IgG food intolerance is a delayed reaction, maybe causing problems 3-21 days after the ingestion of the food that is problematic for you and your digestive system (think G for general or non-specific problems).
So one of the problems in testing is the wide number of food suspects due to the long period of time that is required for your body to react to a IgG food intolerance. This can be expensive.
And the FDA is still saying that the IgG food testing is experimental and therefore insurance companies can deny coverage.
So one of the procedures I do in my Applied Kinesiology practice, is to do a “presumptive” muscle test challenge using muscles associated to digestion via the Chinese meridian/acupoint system such as the Pectoralis Clav Major. If the muscle is strong, the patient then contacts the neuro-lymphatic point for that muscle as I place a food into their mouth and have them chew the food in order to stimulate taste receptors on the tongue and activate gustatory receptors in the brain.
If a particular food causes the muscle to then test “weak” after stimulating these receptors, then the patient is asked to stop eating that particular food for one month’s time.
If the patient has good insurance, then we may order IgG food Intolerance test as we has narrowed the field of possible suspects. Sometimes this is not financially possible for the patient.
However when IgG testing is possible, the results show a 80-100% correlation w/ the results of the muscle test in my practice. Elimination of the positive tested foods results in the patient’s complaints of general abdominal discomfort and growing fatigue and other vague medical symptom to start disappearing.
While the patient is avoiding the suspected foods, I will advise the patient on healing their leaky gut syndrome (also called increased intestinal permeability)
A leaky gut is the result of damage to the intestinal lining from years of abuse via the food intolerance. Leaky gut is also caused by other factors such antibiotic overuse, prescription and over-the counter drugs and excessive alcohol consumption.
A leaky gut is less able to protect the internal environment as well as to filter needed nutrients and other biological substances. As a consequence, some bacteria and their toxins, incompletely digested proteins and fats, and waste not normally absorbed may “leak” out of the intestines into the blood stream.
And as our intestines have a layer of lymphatics, a leaky gut can trigger an autoimmune reaction, which can lead to gastrointestinal problems such as abdominal bloating, excessive gas and cramps, fatigue, food sensitivities, joint pain, skin rashes, and autoimmunity.
It’s a vicious cycle that is helped by removal of the offending food and repair w/ L- glutamine, an amino acid that helps maintain intestinal metabolism and function, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), selectively stimulate the growth and activity of “friendly” bacteria in the intestinal tract such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis, FOS also have been shown to help restore and maintain mucosal integrity and aid in the adequate absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc.
Adjustment of the spinal segments which help innervate the gut, stimulation of Chinese acupoints on meridrians involved w/ digestion and the neuro-lymphatic and neuro-vascular points are also part of the patient’s treatment; this offers a whole body approach to the patient’s problem.
For more information on IgG food Intolerance testing, please see:
Want more information on Dr. Vittoria Repetto and her NYC Applied Kinesiology/Chiropractic/ NKT practice at 230 W 13th St., NYC 10011; please go to www.drvittoriarepetto.com
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