by Dr. Raimund Pothmann, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Oberhausen, Neuropädiatrisches Zentrum

01/96 - 03/98

Objectives
The aim of the study was to evaluate the validity of Kinesiology as a diagnostic method tested on children with recurrent complaints and chronic diseases.
Kinesiology is used as a diagnostic method to measure functional disorders of the body. It is a non-invasive method where muscle reactions are examined under provocational test conditions. The following diagnoses were included: headaches (migraine, tension headache), hyperactivity, abdominal symptoms (constipation, diarrhoe, stomachache) and allergic reactions (neurodermatatis, pollinosis, Asthma bronchiale).
 
Design
The results of the kinesiology tests were compared with those of existing standardised tests, such as RAST, Cytolisa-Test and H₂tests.
Reproducibility was examined under doubleblind and open conditions in 300 children and teen-agers with nutritional disorders.
 
Methods
1. Kinesiology
2. Breath hydrogen analysis
3. Cytolisa Test
4. Radio-Allergo-Sorbens-Test (RAST)
 
Results  
Breath Hydrogen analysis: For 17 months 232 children (137 male, 95 females) aged between 6 months and 16 years were examined after having been administered lactose in the form of dairy products. An increase of lactose-intolerance was registered in 77 patients. In contrast the kinesiology test showed an unsymmetrical distribution of intolerance. Reliability within the group of females was higher than the males. Under double blind conditions the result of the kinesiology test did not differ from accidental findings.
 
Cytolisa test: 55 children were examined for reactions to 94 different foods. In the kinesiology test nine substances per child were tested. The results were kept double-blind in 308 testpairs. Both tests showed pathological findings and focussed on reactions to milk and dairy products. However the results were not comparable to one another.
 
RAST: 92 children were tested. For the comparison with the kinesiology method 288 test pairs were taken into account. Again there was an unsymmetrical distribution observed. The kinesiology test results were more often positive in indicating food incompatibility.
 
Discussion
Compared to the H₂-test, Cytolisa and RAST, kinesiology results showed a high sensitivness, but low specificity. Whereas the other three tests indicate only one kind of incompatibility, kinesiology is said to be able to register all reactions of the entire body on disturbing or harming factors. Therefore the results of the kinesiology testing were compared with combined results of Cytolisa and RAST. As a result the sensitivness decreased and the specificity increased slightly as expected.
 
As a conclusion, due to the low specificity kinesiology cannot be judged as a reliable, valid diagnostic method.

Pothmann R, Frankberg S v, Weingarten H, Hoickem C, Pollmer U
Evaluation der klinisch angewandten Kinesiologie bei Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeiten im Kindesalter
In: Albrecht H, Frühwald M, eds. Jahrbuch der Karl und Veronica Carstens-Stiftung, Band 3 (1996). Stuttgart: Hippokrates; 1997: 153-163.
 
Pothmann R, Frankenberg S von, Hoicke C, Lüdtke R, Weingarten H
Evaluation der klinisch angewandten Kinesiologie bei Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeiten im Kindesalter
In: Albrecht H, Frühwald M, eds. Jahrbuch der Karl und Veronica Carstens-Stiftung, Band 4 (1997). Essen: kvc; 1998: 116-130.