Validation of the Magnesium Muscle Stretch Test

Overview

Professional Applied Kinesiology (PAK) is a system which attempts to evaluate numerous aspects of health (structural, chemical, and mental) by the manual testing of muscles, combined with other standard methods of diagnosis. It leads to a variety of conservative, noninvasive treatments which involves joint manipulations or mobilizations, myofascial therapies, cranial techniques, meridian and acupuncture skills, clinical nutrition and dietary management, counseling skills, evaluating environmental irritants, and various reflex techniques. The expanded validity of the manual muscle test has been extensively described.elsewhere, including by one of the Co-Principal Investigators (Anthony Rosner). Details of Applied Kinesiology and its adjunctive procedures are prescribed by an International College of Applied Kinesiology Board of Examiners, cited for its scholarly and scientific activities. A convenience sample of 40 patients, ages 18-75, will be administered the magnesium muscle stretch test with blood drawn at the time of the individual's visit. For the muscle test, uniformity of the examiner's force application is to be confirmed with a force transducer, while the clinician's judgment as to whether the muscle test is positive (facilitated) or negative (inhibited) will be confirmed by electrogoniometry, the procedures for both the force transducer and electrogoniometer having been established by one of the Co-PIs (Anthony Rosner) previously. The blood sample is to be submitted to LabCorp for the measurement of red blood cell levels of magnesium. Coded results of the muscle test and magnesium blood levels are to be correlated by an experienced statistician who is blinded to the patient's identity.

A convenience sample of 40 patients, ages 18-75. is to be selected from those attending the services of Dr. William Maykel at his office in Auburn, Massachusetts. Consenting patients are be given an informed consent form approved by a contract institutional review board (PearlIRB), which they are to sign and return indicating that they fully understand the scope and logistics of the proposed research with the right to withdraw at any time without reprisals. Research subjects will undergo the manual muscle stretch test administered by Dr. William Maykel. Specifically, the stretch test is performed as follows: 1. The patient is seated. The right anterior serratus muscle is tested. The doctor asks the patient to hold the right arm straight out at a 90 degree angle with the thumb pointed toward the ceiling. 2. The muscle test is 5/5. 3. The patient is instructed to raise his or her arm straight up to the ceiling, stretching the anterior serratus muscle. The arm is then brought back to the original test position at a 90 degree angle with the thumb up. 4. The muscle is then retested. If it is now 3/5, this represents a positive magnesium stretch test. 5. The procedure is repeated on one or two other muscles to solidify the diagnostic presence of insufficient magnesium. Immediately afterward, the patient's blood is drawn by a licensed phlebotomist with samples submitted to LabCorp to determine red blood cell magnesium contents (and other trace metals for future investigations). Results of the muscle test (inhibited or facilitated) are to be paired with the respective blood magnesium levels and shared with each participant. They will be coded to protect the patient's identity identity and submitted to an experienced statistician for correlation, the results either supporting or refuting the hypothesis which stated that the muscle stretch test is a rapid, inexpensive, and readily available screening test for magnesium deficiency. Correlation will be a binary process, based upon (i) normal or deficient levels of magnesium based upon the muscle testing, and (ii) normal blood cell ranges of magnesium established by the reference laboratory. The identity of patients will be known only to the research staff and kept within a locked file in Dr. Maykel's office for 5 years before being discarded. It will not be shared in any presentations or publications of research results.