Muscle Testing – A Concise Manual

Muscle testing – A Concise Manual, provides a reference for understanding how structure relates to function, and how by knowing function we can learn structural configurations. Often muscular anatomy is taught as a dry subject whereby each muscle is painstakingly reviewed and the learner is expected to cite origin, insertion, action, nerve supply and blood supply. This commonly used approach may not necessarily aid understanding of muscle function, nor does it demonstrate muscular positioning. Through muscle testing, one is better equipped to consider how muscles function individually and in working groups. It is the knowledge of symmetrical movement, range of motion, contractile patterns, resistance and gravity that provides the fuller picture for muscle function and dysfunction.

Authors

Earle Abrahamson holds qualifications in human movement sciences, clinical psychology and pedagogy. He is a principal fellow of the Higher Education Academy and senior lecturer in sports therapy at the University of East London. He has over 20 years experience in education and clinical practice and module leads the functional clinical anatomy course. Together with Jane Langston, Earle wrote Making Sense of Human Anatomy and Physiology, a text that focusses on teaching and learning strategies for anatomy and physiology. Earle is director at LearnAnatomy and hands-on Training. He is the national chairman of the Massage Training Institute, vice chairman of the General Council for Soft Tissue Therapies, and elected member to the massage therapy professional subject board on the Complementary and Natural health Council. Earle is a practising soft tissue therapist who actively uses muscle testing to assess and treat a wider range of injuries and pathologies.

Jane Langston worked for over 20 years in haematology and blood transfusion laboratories within the National Health Service and is Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science. She went on to develop her skills as an Amatsu practitioner in a busy clinic in Hertfordshire for another 20 years. Jane is a teacher of Amatsu Soft Tissue Therapy and of anatomy and physiology and is a director of Amatsu Training School Ltd and Learn Anatomy Ltd. Her many years of teaching have enabled her to understand the kind of strategies students need to help them learn, retain and apply anatomical studies, and these insights are encapsulated in the book Making Sense of Learning Human Anatomy and Physiology, written with Earle Abrahamson. Jane is the Amatsu Therapy representative on the General Council for Soft Tissue Therapies and is an Amatsu advisor to the British Register for Complementary Therapies.