You can directly test a muscle as shown in Muscle Response Test 1: How a muscle can be. Or use different strategies to have further information. The correct testing strategy depends on the muscle and on the situation you are worlking with.
A muscle can be directly testable (for example for Quadriceps – Rectus femoris (with the test: Quadriceps AK version (Hip flexion)) or Deltoid – Middle part (with the test: Middle deltoid)). Or it can be only indirectly testable (as it is, for example, for Anterior Serratus (with the test: Serratus Anterior) or Rhomboids (with the test: Rhomboids).
Some muscles are not testable in the conventional way. In this case there are alternatives:
- TL testing: for muscles you are able to palpate and identify clearly
- Surrogate testing: for muscles that are not “reachable” with Circuit Localization (CL) (e.g.: Extrinsic Eye Muscles) (you can see the technique here: Surrogate Muscle Testing).
Direct testing is more accurate, Surrogate testing, where the system you are testing is more complex, is the less precise. To be precise you should always use a direct test when available.
Normally a person (operator) is testing another (the one that receive the balance/correction) but there are some exceptions:
- When a person is not able to perform a muscle test (young children, someone temporarily or permanently unable to move a muscle) you can use surrogate testing;
- When there is no one around and you need to test yourself you can use Self Testing. When another person can test you it is normally more accurate because another person does not “expect” a muscle to respond in a particular way and tends to “influence” the outcome less.
You can also use Muscle Response Testing (MRT) to test statements. Many modalities (Modality – School – Branch) make an extensive use of Verbal Questioning that can be done mainly:
- Choosing with the muscle response between a list of sentences or words;
- Testing a sentence with Yes and No Questioning is (almost) always a good idea to test for emotions: see how Emotion Testing is done.
Read also Muscle response Test 3: refine your skills to hone your skills. This text is modifiable, you can add useful information and, if something important is missing, add it in the appropriate Unit of Knowledge. Collaboration always wins.
