Muscle testing

July 2, 2003

, " douginbeijing " wrote:

> Today yet another patient has stopped taking the herbs I

prescribed because they muscle tested negatively to them. The tests

were given by another acupuncturist.

> Perhaps muscle testing works, I don't know. I do feel confident

that my formulas are good.

> I find myself wanting to write to the National and State

Acupuncture Boards to get some kind of ruling about this. Is it

unethical practice? I am sure others have been in the same

situation. What are your thoughts? >>>

Doug:

It's certainly not within the scope of practice anywhere. But the

first problem is that the patient is going to another acupuncturist

to shop and compare opinions; they haven't placed their full

confidence in you yet. The other practitioner may rely on muscle

testing to compensate for not knowing CM very well (they probably

can't take pulses or read Chinese, either). Perhaps that's why they

didn't like your formula.

If you don't take charge of the case, what you do will always be

second-guested and compromised; then you'll become frustrated. Make

an effort to be the sole provider, or let the patient go. I gave up

one pregnant patient because another practitioner said that they

could change the karma of the fetus needling Kd4. It never occured

to her that since you can't know the karma of the fetus in the first

place, the claim is bogus and a silly exaggeration about the

function of the point (that it has a strong effect on stabilising

the emotions).

Besides, muscle testing is not very reliable. I have very rarely

used it or been impressed by someone doing it. Too many experts get

too many different answers during testing for the same things. But

if you accept it and want to retest the formula with muscle testing

yourself, you can. The other acupuncturist's negative or conflicting

attitude may have played a part.

Jim Ramholz

July 2, 2003

All,

I have had the same experience numerous times. What I feel like doing is "firing" the patient, but so far I don't recall doing it. I think I should make an effort to get the patient to at least try my prescription for a few days and see what happens before they decide whether it is good for them or not. Maybe muscle test it again at that point. I too find that the skill level of muscle testers is all over the map. There are only a few people in the world I would trust to muscle test me for any substance I was considering taking, so I do think there can be validity in muscle testing, but IMO it is an extremely difficult skill to master. I am beginning to successfully incorporate some Touch for Health into some of my acupuncture musculoskeletal treatments, and it involves what is called muscle testing, but it is a true muscle strength test with a straightforward musculoskeletal treatment in turn incorporated with acupuncture theory, not a test of which formula or whatnot to take. To me, these are completely different birds. The former is a physiological strength test, the latter is questionable energetics at best.

I must admit that I have at times been puzzled why another practitioner would prescribe a particular formula to a particular patient, and I have said so to my patient, but I try to make it clear that I am not saying the other practitioner is wrong or that the patient should not take that formula: it just doesn't necessarily make sense to me. I may say the same thing about some medical prescriptions, but I am careful to be clear that I am not telling the patient not to take the medicine, just that I have reservations about it from my perspective. I admit that I am careful to suggest to the patient to discuss this with their doctor but not as careful to suggest discussing such with their other herbal/acupuncture practitioner. Unfortunately, I think this is a widespread type of disrespect that we as fellow practitioners promote among each other. How can we ever expect anyone else to respect us if we don't fully respect each other? I promise to be more careful about not stepping on others' toes in the future. Usually, though, the adverse muscle testing is done either by the patient on the spot or by their brother-in-law or somebody unconnected to the CM field. I don't think CM practitioners should legally be allowed to do herbal formula muscle testing, though I too hope we don't have to go so far as medical boards to resolve the issue. If someone in CM adversely tested one of my prescriptions I would definitely confront them about it personally.

Joseph Garner

>>> , "douginbeijing" wrote: