From the link above:
Dubious Diagnosis and Treatment
Although Nambudripad recommends taking a standard allergy history, her principal diagnostic method is muscle-testing in which substances are placed in the patient's hand and the practitioner tests whether the arm can resist being pulled by the practitioner. Supposedly, when the arm is weak, the substance is said to cause allergy. "Surrogate testing" can be used to test young children or adults who are weak or incapacitated. The surrogate touches the skin of the person being tested while the practitioner tests the muscle of the surrogate. Some practitioners use an electrodiagnostic device that measures skin resistance to a small current emitted by the device [5]
When testing is completed, the practitioner "treats specific acupuncture points on the back using strong acupressure either by hands or with a pressure device while the patient is holding the allergen in their palm, touching the sample with the pads of their fingers. All patients above the age of ten will then also receive acupressure or acupuncture needles on specific points on the front of the body. Then:
Patients are asked to remain for 15-20 minutes in the office after the treatment. At that time they are tested again for their muscle strength with the allergen in their hand. This time, if the treatment is successful, the patient's arm should remain strong against the practitioner's pressure. The patient is then asked to wash their hands or rub them together for a minute. Patients are instructed to avoid all contact with the allergen that they were just treated for, for 25 hours. They are also advised to read The NAET Guidebook to find the suitable foods they can eat for the next 25 hours. During the spinal NAET treatment procedure the NAET practitioner and the patient should be alone in the room to prevent "electromagnetic interference." [6] (Nambudripad claims that a third person in the room can "steal" the treatment [3:6].) On the following visit the practitioner retests the previously treated item. If the result is satisfactory, the practitioner can treat another item. A course of 30-40 visits (once or twice per week) is commonly recommended Nambudripad also claims that NAET can be used as a preventive measure in people who are not sick [3:14].
According to The NAET Guide Book , the need for specific supplements is determined by having the patient hold a supplement in one hand while the practitioner pulls on the other arm. According to the book, weakness indicates allergy. If the patient tests strong, more pills are added one by one until the patient's arm tests "weak." The total number of pills in the patient's hand then indicates "the total deficiency on that day in the present condition." The book claims:
This number can be anywhere from 1-2 pills to many thousands, depending on the deficiency. For example: in certain nerve disorders, the total amount of vitamin B-complex deficiency can be as high as 20-30 thousand grams.
If the deficiency is 1-6 pills, one may not need to take supplements. Regular balanced meals will provide the requirements.
If the deficiency is more than 6-10 pills (or the amount equals 6-10 times recommended daily dosage (RDA), then one should supplement one pill daily. If the deficiency is calculated in many tens, hundreds or thousands, supplement the person with 4-6 times the recommended daily dosage of that particular supplement. . . .
Supplements in mega doses are often needed for a number of months in the following cases: arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, any chronic problems related to allergy, hair loss, constipation, degenerative diseases, cancer, etc. [3:21]
The NAET muscle-testing procedure is an offshoot of applied kinesiology, a pseudoscientific system based on the notion is that every organ dysfunction is accompanied by a specific muscle weakness. There is no scientific evidence that this is true; and test-to-test variations are due either suggestibility, muscle fatigue (from repeated testing) or variations in the test technique. The idea that the number of pills held in the hand can somehow be registered in a way that can influence the strength of a muscle is absurd. The idea that someone can be "deficient" by 20-30 thousand grams is even more absurd. That would be 44 to 66 pounds! Moreover, most vitamin pills contain less than a gram of their vitamin or mineral ingredients. Twenty thousand pills could not fit in the hand of the person being tested.
Curiously, Nabudripad's Web site warns patients against "being lured into clinics by doctors promising NAET allergy elimination treatments, but they are not receiving NAET treatments." The methods she list include: (a) placing colored slides at various locations on the body, (b) lying on a special bed while holding an allergen, (c) placing their fingers into a computerized dish with flashing lights while "some mumbo-jumbo is done on them," (c) touching cetain body parts and sitting alone while thinking about the allergen or "allergic thought," (e) prescribing $400 to $500 worth of supplements, vitamins, enzymes or sublungual drops on the first visit without removing any allergies, and (f) shining a laser light on their back while they hold the allergen in their hand [6].
