I developed my interest in nutrition while attaining my degree in pre-med over forty five years ago. As a result of this interest, I obtained an additional Bachelors Degree in nutrition followed by a Masters Degree in Nutrition. Over the last four decades I’ve hosted a number of radio call in talk shows which I feel were important for consumer education before the days of the internet and Google.

In the early 1970’s, groups of like minded M.D.’s, D.O.’s, and D.C.’s formed organizations like the International Academy of Preventive Medicine. Its membership included scientists like Linus Pauling, Roger Williams, Albert Szent Georgie, and Carl Folkers, all academic giants in the emerging field of nutrition. It was then that I learned how to use laboratory evaluation to determine nutritional needs. Unfortunately, laboratory evaluation wasn’t very reliable, was terribly expensive, and produced results that were at best fair, and that hasn’t changed. Nevertheless, it is what was available and I practiced this form of clinical nutrition for over thirty five years.

Within the last decade, a few leading edge scientists began investigating new approaches to nutritional evaluation using a new and emerging technique where an evaluation was performed by testing muscle strength in relationship to known neurological reflexes. Because all internal organs are associated with specific areas located conveniently on the skin, called dermatomes, the status of the stress experienced by an internal organ can be measured by testing the response of a strong muscle to pressure exerted against a specific dermatome. This approach is quick, non-invasive, painless, enormously less expensive than laboratory evaluation, and holds great promise as a big part of the future of nutritional medicine. At my office we call this new method of evaluation Neuro Muscular Reflex Testing, and it will be referred to from here forward as NMRT.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, recognition for NMRT has come slowly. Many practitioners who investigate this new approach are much more comfortable utilizing the more familiar laboratory evaluations. Perhaps not coincidentally, nutritional laboratory evaluations also produce considerably larger incomes.

The nutritional portion of my practice is presently composed primarily of an evaluation utilizing NMRT, which is similar to the non invasive, painless, and side effect free tool we use to evaluate our allergy patients with NAET ( Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique ). Of course a personal history with an exam and consultation is performed, and occasionally some lab work is required.

What we call NMRT is called by many different names. You may be familiar with the name Applied Kinesiology which comes from the original work of the late Dr. George Goodheart. Many brilliant doctors of chiropractic, medicine and dentistry, over the last forty years, have contributed to this expanding field of information that takes a great deal of the educated guess work out of the patient examination. Others like Dr.’s Ulan and Bryman have contributed by organizing much of that knowledge into an efficient system. They call the evaluation Nutritional Response Testing (NRT), and it is identical to what we term NMRT. Again, when used in a patient evaluation, this type of approach allows for a timely, cost efficient, painless, side effect free, non invasive and remarkably effective approach to evaluating a patients immediate nutritional needs.

The first step in the evaluation process is to determine whether a patient’s Autonomic (automatic) Nervous System is capable of healing the stressed or diseased organ systems. Many patients experience a phenomenon of non-response. They try everything including Medicine, Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Nutrition, etc., to no avail. This has been shown to occur when the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic, the two portions of the Autonomic Nervous System, are functioning out of harmony, or in a state of blocked regulation.

These two parts of the Autonomic Nervous System are supposed to work in concert, with the Sympathetic system controlling, to put it simply, fight or flight or normal daily activity, and the Parasympathetic system controlling resting and digesting. Therefore, the Sympathetic system in a healthy individual is supposed to slow down during periods of food consumption and rest. At those times the Parasympathetic System is supposed to be dominant.

A good example of blocked regulation that many chronically ill patients experience is a poor night’s sleep, and a feeling on arising of having been up and active all night. That is a sign that the Sympathetic system stayed in control throughout the night. There are many other examples, and when they occur, the Autonomic Nervous System is blocked, or in a state of blocked regulation. When the nervous system is demonstrated to be in a state of blocked regulation, that must be fixed first so that healing can take place. Unfortunately, these many patients who have tried numerous standard and customary as well as alternative/complimentary programs and approaches, with limited to no results, have little chance to get better without eliminating the blocked regulation.

The next step we must take is to determine whether the brain is working harmoniously, or if there is any additional confusion in the Nervous System. If there is neurological confusion the patient is said to be switched. In neurologic switching, a patient will repeatedly experience opposite reactions to treatment than expected. Medicines, Chiropractic adjustments, Acupuncture treatments, Nutritional supplements, etc., will have the opposite effect than that expected. Every practitioner has experienced these patients who do not respond appropriately, and it can be incredibly frustrating for both the doctor and the patient. Often these patients go from specialist to specialist, are diagnosed as psychosomatic, or labeled with a diagnosis that tells other practitioners that this patient is impossible to treat.

Once we have an unblocked Autonomic Nervous System and neurologic harmony, we have a patient that is able to have a healing experience. At this time we embark on a program designed more towards healing the specific complaints. These areas of patient complaint are confirmed by applying light pressure to the area of the skin (dermatome) over the stressed organs and then testing to see if a strong muscle goes weak. If a strong muscle becomes weak it reflects stress on the associated organ, or area being tested. It is not unusual for numerous organs to test weak. When that happens, instead of attempting to treat all the overstressed organs or systems that tested weak, we prioritize. By prioritization we determine which organ or system the body needs to have addressed first in order to heal in the most expeditious fashion.

Most patients who present at the office are seriously chronically ill. I like to explain that as like being a house on fire. Most nutritional approaches advocate immediate treatment of all the overstressed areas. This is like putting in new carpet, wiring, and plumbing while the house is still burning. Dr.’s Ulan and Bryman feel that the first step should be to put the fire out, which makes a great deal more sense. They suggest that in most patients that are chronically ill, the body has little energy for healing and therefore it is wise to determine the most important or key organ or system in the pattern of stressed organs and treat that first. In other words to focus first on putting the fire out. Once the fire is out, the time has come to focus on rebuilding the house. This brings us to the specifics of prioritization.

Prioritization allows me to get right to the primary culprit in a patients pattern of ill health without guesswork, and with the utilization of a much reduced supplemental program. This saves both time and money. Prioritization is determined by another simple, quick, efficient, and painless muscle test using NMRT. Once the priority has been determined it is necessary to find out what other major barriers may be interfering with the healing process

At each step of the NMRT evaluation process, five major barriers to healing are considered. These barriers can interrupt or block the body’s innate healing ability. These five major barriers are: immune challenges (from viruses, bacteria, etc.); toxic metal poisoning (ex., mercury from silver fillings); toxic chemical overload (ex., pesticides, food additives, etc.); major food allergies/sensitivities; and scars. Of these five, scars is the barrier least understood by western medicine; however, it is easily as big a blocker to good health as the other four.

Immune challenges from bacterial infection, fungal overgrowth, etc., are dealt with by supporting the immune system with specific supplements that have been shown to reduce immune stress, improve resistance, and lead to the repair of associated organs and systems. I like to think of these supplements as genuine replacement parts.

Toxic metal poisoning and toxic chemical overload are managed first by identification of the offending substance(s) and then by supplementally supporting the patients own natural detox system. Avoidance of the harmful chemicals is important, and sometimes removal is necessary, as in the case of silver/mercury dental fillings.

Food allergies/sensitivities to the major foods is a specialty of my office and is dealt with by eliminating the allergy/sensitivity with NAET (Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique). This technique does away with challenging food elimination diets by actually eliminating the underlying allergy/sensitivity. There is more information on this technique elsewhere on this website. My practice is the largest NAET practice in this part of the country.

The last of the major barriers is scars. Scars on the skin can sometimes interrupt nerve pathways that connect all over the body and reflex into internal organs and systems. This is not a common barrier, but when it is found it is often a large part of what has been missed by other approaches. Scars are treated with a cold laser and wheat germ oil. The laser treatment is painless and inexpensive.

Once the major barriers to healing have been removed, the prioritized organ or system can be treated specifically. This often produces a cascade of healing that positively affects other involved organs and systems. Patients return at two week intervals for repeat testing to determine changes to diet and nutrition programs via repeat NMRT.

In most cases, healing occurs in 90 day cycles. The first cycle is usually devoted to eliminating any Autonomic Nervous System blocks to healing, and the removal of enough of the influence of the five major barriers to healing so that significant improvement can begin. In successive cycles, NMRT allows us to approach specific body requirements in the order of priority determined by the unique responses of each individual patient. Obviously the use of NMRT allows for a very individualized approach, and I believe that accounts for much of its exceptional success. This process lasts until a patient has demonstrated that healing has taken place by both symptom abatement and further NMRT, and has further shown that dietary and other lifestyle recommendations have become a part of a normal routine.

Once this reasonable level of health is achieved, a patient is released to continue with the lifestyle lessons that helped bring them back to health.