BOOK REVIEWS
Kersey, PhD, CSCS, Column Editor
Manual Muscle Testing
Nathan Longcrier, MS, ATC • California State University, Fullerton
M anual muscle testing is
a vital part of most clinical
evaluations. Many factors can
contribute to muscle weak-
ness, including pain, fatigue,
nerve involvement, or muscle
atrophy. The positive aspect of
manual muscle testing is that
the anatomy does not change.
Therefore, once they have
learned the muscles and their
actions, health-care provid-
ers can evaluate muscles and
determine what the treatment
plan should be. These books all
explain how to locate a muscle,
isolate it, and test it. The three
textbooks reviewed all provide
this information.
54  JULY 2005
Robert D.
Muscles: Testing and Function With Posture
and Pain, 5th ed.
By Florence P. Kendall, Elizabeth K. McCreary,
Patricia G. Provance, Mary M. Rodgers, and
William A. Romani
2005, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore
ISBN: 0-7817-4780-5
$74.95, 480 pp. To order: 1-800-638-3030
This book includes seven chapters separated
by colored tabs at the top of each page for
easy and fast reference. Chapter 1 encompasses the fundamental concepts
of manual muscle testing, including objectives of muscle testing, the grading
system, and treatment fundamentals. Chapter 2 features the fundamentals
of posture and postural alignment, examinations, childhood posture, and
related corrective exercises. Chapters 3–7 detail manual muscle testing by
body region: head and face, neck, trunk, upper extremity, and lower extrem-
ity. These chapters all have very good diagrams, photos, and charts. They
include detailed pictures and text on how to test each muscle. This book
also comes with a Primal 3D Anatomy CD and concentrates on correcting
postural problems associated with muscle imbalances. Muscles: Testing
and Function With Posture and Pain is an excellent reference book for any
health-care provider who is treating musculoskeletal conditions and is also
very valuable to students as a textbook.
Daniels and Worthingham’s Muscle Testing:
Techniques of Manual Examination, 7th ed.
By Helen J. Hislop and Jacqueline Montgomery
2002, W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia
ISBN: 0-7216-9299-0
$56.95, 467 pp. (spiral bound)
The seventh edition of Daniels and Worthing-
ham’s Muscle Testing: Techniques of Manual
Examination has a very brief introduction
on the principles of manual muscle testing.
Chapters 2 and 3 describe muscle tests for the neck and trunk—they are
very limited and are presented by motion rather than by muscle. Chapters 4
and 5 include manual tests for muscles of the upper and lower extremities,
© 2005 Human Kinetics • ATT 10(4), pp. 54-55
ATHLETIC THERAPY TODAY
also organized by joint action but including the muscles involved. New to
this edition, chapter 6 highlights infants, toddlers, and preschool children All three of the reviewed texts
and is designed to detail developmental growth in prone, supine, sitting, can be used for athletic training
and standing positions. The last chapter covers muscles innervated by the or physical therapy students,
cranial nerves. This is a good text for students or health-care providers depending on their knowledge
learning how to perform manual muscle testing. It is easy to read and very level. Muscles: Testing and
thorough. The book has well-defined drawings of the muscles and patient Function With Posture and Pain
and examiner positions. is an excellent book on how
to correct postural problems
Handbook of Manual Muscle Testing and reduce pain. It is a rather
By Nancy C. Cutter and C. George Kevorkian advanced text, but it still can be
1999, W.C.B. McGraw-Hill, New York used by students, as well as by
ISBN: 0-0703-3150-2 clinicians. This book also offers
$36.95, 315 pp. (spiral bound) an anatomy CD that can be very
This book clearly meets the authors’ objec- helpful. Handbook of Manual
tive of producing a handbook on manual Muscle Testing and Daniels and
muscle testing. Handbook of Manual Muscle Worthingham’s Muscle Testing:
Testing includes 11 chapters, the first two of Techniques of Manual Examina-
which detail the basics of manual muscle testing. Chapters 3–8 are sepa- tion are both very easy to follow
rated by body region. The last three chapters describe tests for muscles of and probably better choices for
respiration and swallowing, as well as pediatric issues. The book provides students who are just learning
readers a quick reference for understanding and applying the basics of the art of manual muscle test-
manual muscle testing quickly and conveniently. There are two pages ing. This does not exclude these
devoted to each muscle, containing information on the muscle’s origin, texts as references for health-
insertion, action, nerve-root innervations, and how to perform the manual care providers. Any of the
muscle test. The authors also include an illustration of the muscle and hand three reviewed books would
positioning of the tester on each page. This handbook can be used as a be a great addition to a medi-
supplement to other manual-muscle-testing books, or it can be used as a cal library. 
reference guide in your professional setting.
Nathan Longcrier is in his 8th year as
an athletic trainer and rehabilitation
specialist at California State University,
Fullerton. He currently works in the
Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy
Department of the Student Health and
Counseling Center.

ATHLETIC THERAPY TODAY JULY 2005  55