Can you have your usual cup of coffee on the morning of your visit? Do you need to fast? What should you bring? These sound like small questions, but manual muscle testing in Applied Kinesiology (AK) reflects your body on that particular day, including things that have nothing to do with your illness, such as a morning coffee or a short night’s sleep.
Some people also arrive empty-handed, thinking the doctor will find everything once they are there. Time at a first visit to Tam Duc Clinic is limited. Gathering your papers at home takes only a few minutes. In return, less of the visit goes into guessing again at what is already on paper, and the doctor has more time to ask questions and examine you.
What to bring, and why
The doctor needs to know your health situation and the results you already have beforehand, in order to choose which muscles to test and to read the muscle testing results in the right context. Muscle testing gives the doctor extra information about function, for example which muscle is working poorly. If you have them, please bring:
- Blood, urine and hormone test results, including old ones. A single value rarely says much, while several measurements taken a few months apart show a trend;
- Images and reports from ultrasound, X-ray, MRI and CT. Old images are still useful because the doctor can compare them with the present;
- Your current prescriptions, with the medicine boxes or photos of the labels showing the active ingredient and strength. Brand names are very easy to misremember;
- Any dietary supplements, vitamins, tonics and herbal teas you are taking. Bringing the actual boxes and bottles is best;
- Your health record book, hospital discharge papers and surgery papers, or medical records from your home country, if you have them;
- Notes from the last few days if the problem is related to your menstrual cycle, sleep or pain: the day your period started, when you go to bed and wake up, when the pain comes on and after what activity.
Old papers you think are no longer useful are worth bringing too, including normal results, because the doctor reads them together with the muscle testing results.
With medicines, supplements and vitamins, the doctor looks at the dose first. The most common finds are two products with different names but the same ingredients, or a conventional drug that needs care when taken together with an herbal decoction. Bringing the actual product has another benefit: AK can test the product you bring directly (Walther, 1981, pp. 45–50). How this is done is described in our article Is Applied Kinesiology safe? Understanding muscle testing correctly. The decision to keep or drop a product rests on its ingredients, the dose, your lab tests and the AK test results.
Eating, drinking and rest before your visit
Coffee, strong tea, energy drinks
An umbrella review pooling 21 meta-analyses found that caffeine increases muscle strength and muscle endurance, with evidence of moderate quality (Grgic et al., 2019). The gain in maximal muscle strength is small but real, and is linked to caffeine’s effect on the central nervous system (Warren et al., 2010). Muscle testing relies on how well a muscle holds, so even a small change like this can shift that day’s result away from your usual state.
On the day of your visit, don’t drink extra coffee, strong tea or energy drinks beyond your usual habit. If you have a cup every morning, keep to it as on any other day, because suddenly dropping a habit also puts your body out of its usual state. Just tell the doctor that you had it this morning.
Water
Drink enough water, as on any other day; there is no need to drink a lot right before the visit. Walther (1981, pp. 28 and 49–50) notes that when you are short of water, muscles can become weak throughout the body, and the testing step called therapy localization gives a less clear signal.
Eating and sleep
Have a light, ordinary meal; don’t come too full or too hungry. When you are too full, lying on your back or on your stomach is uncomfortable. When you are too hungry, you tire easily and find it hard to hold a steady force during muscle testing. The night before, sleep as you normally would.
Exercise
Avoid hard exercise right before your visit, including an early-morning weight session or a long run. A muscle that has just worked hard will be tired, and a tired muscle is very hard to tell apart from a muscle that is weak for some other reason. A gentle walk is fine.
Lotion, oil, hair spray
On the morning of your visit, go easy on lotion or oil on your hands and neck, and set hair oil and hair spray aside for the day. Walther (1981) notes that these products sometimes interfere with the therapy localization step (lotion on p. 28, oil and hair spray on p. 40). Skipping lotion for one morning costs you almost nothing, and the testing step comes out clearer.
Clothing
Choose loose, stretchy clothes that are easy to move in and can be pulled up or down to expose your shoulders, knees and spine. A tight skirt or skinny jeans will make it hard for you to lie down and bend your knees during muscle testing.
What happens at the first visit
The examination and consultation take about 30–45 minutes. The usual order is:
- Questions about your illness and history: why you came, when it started, where you have been treated, along with your daily routine, eating, work and emotional stress;
- A clinical examination by modern medicine and by traditional medicine, including looking (with tongue diagnosis), listening, asking and taking the pulse;
- The doctor reviews what you brought; if important information is missing, the doctor will suggest extra lab tests or an ultrasound before treatment;
- Muscle testing to assess function. You hold a position and the doctor presses lightly for a few seconds to see how the muscle responds. Depending on your problem, the doctor may also check the level of stress in the brain and directly test the products you brought;
- The doctor explains what was found, the direction of treatment (which may include acupuncture, moxibustion (warming points with burning mugwort), herbal decoctions, nutrition and exercise) and the follow-up schedule.
If any step is unclear, just ask.
Things to tell the doctor at the start
The conditions below may lead the doctor to adjust how the examination is done, how acupuncture is given, or which herbs go into the decoction. Please tell the doctor right at the start if you:
- Are pregnant, may be pregnant, or are breastfeeding;
- Have recently had surgery or an injury;
- Are taking blood thinners (anticoagulants);
- Have a chronic illness that is being monitored or treated;
- Have ever had a drug allergy, including to herbal medicines, whether Vietnamese or Chinese.
If you are pregnant, the doctor will adjust the areas being tested to suit.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to fast before the visit?
No, just eat lightly as usual. Only if the doctor has already scheduled a blood test that requires fasting should you follow the separate instructions for that test.
Should I stop my medicines before the visit?
Don’t stop on your own. Keep taking your medicines as prescribed and bring them so the doctor can see them. Whether to keep, reduce or stop any of them should be discussed with the person who prescribed them.
Can a family member come with me?
Yes. For older people, having a family member along also helps give a fuller medical history and remember the instructions after the visit.
Our article Is Applied Kinesiology safe? Understanding muscle testing correctly covers what AK can test and what makes a muscle testing session trustworthy. If you would like an appointment, you can book a consultation here.
References
- Grgic J, Grgic I, Pickering C, Schoenfeld BJ, Bishop DJ, Pedisic Z. Wake up and smell the coffee: caffeine supplementation and exercise performance – an umbrella review of 21 published meta-analyses. Br J Sports Med. 2019;54(11):681-688. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2018-100278
- Warren GL et al. Effect of caffeine ingestion on muscular strength and endurance: a meta-analysis. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2010;42(7):1375-87. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181cabbd8
- Walther DS (1981). Applied Kinesiology, Volume I – Basic Procedures and Muscle Testing. Pueblo, Colorado: Systems DC. (Sách thực hành lâm sàng.)
