For the past decades new methods of alternative medicine have emerged for diagnostics and treatment of various diseases. It is believed that modern western medicine is not able to offer any effective means to treat certain types of health problems. What are these methods?
Autonomic response testing. One of such methods is the autonomic response testing. The concept of this method is based on using nonspecific reactions of the autonomic nervous system in response to provocative actions, which may cause general stress response. It could be a direct contact with allergens. Advocates of this method believe that close contact between allergen and human body causes their bio-energetic interaction. E.g. contact with wheat may cause body's stress response where the autonomic nervous system is involved.
Evaluation of treatment effects. It is possible to measure body's reaction to allergens using methods of express assessment of the autonomic nervous system function. They may be used as auxiliary tools in allergy diagnostics and as instruments to help choosing adequate treatments and dosages.
Measuring reaction of the autonomic nervous system. How to measure reactions of the autonomic nervous system? A muscle testing technique is one of the most popular techniques among specialists practicing alternative medicine. Here is how it works. Patient is asked to stretch an arm and keep it steady. Doctor tries pushing it down but patient must resist. While pushing the patient's arm the doctor evaluates the strength of patient's muscular resistance. It was empirically shown that any kind of stress reaction causes muscular strength to drops no matter how the patient consciously tries to resist. A well-trained doctor is able to recognize minute changes in patient's strength.
During the assessment typical allergens are applied one by one immediately followed by a muscle testing procedure. A diagnostic conclusion is made based on the results of this testing.
However this method of the autonomic response testing may look rather subjective. Are there any more objective methods? Yes, methods of heart rate variability (HRV) analysis may be used too.
HRV analysis as the assessment of the autonomic nervous system. HRV analysis has reputation of a very reliable and accurate quantitative assessment of the autonomic nervous system function. Changes in specific HRV parameters may reflect changes in the autonomic function in response to many stress factors.
Continuous real-time monitoring of HRV parameters allows for measuring onsets and strength of the autonomic response to the stressors such as allergens.
What are the tools available for HRV real-time monitoring? Most professionals and educational institutes, like East Carolina University, NIH and Ithaca College, prefer HRV Live!, a PC-based instrument developed by Biocom Technologies. This tool is good for continuous
real-time monitoring of HRV parameters. It has been successfully used to monitor the dynamics of the autonomic function and perform the autonomic response testing in various clinical assessment and treatment procedures.
