Technique FYI The Oolo-Austin Test Diagram 1 T body(1) Dr. Jack Hewitt received his doc- torate at the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic in 2008, and his undergraduate degree in kinesiol- ogy at the University of Western Ontario in 2001. He is an NSCA Certified Strength and Condition- ing Specialist and has over seven years’ personal training experience with elite level athletes. Dr. Hewitt is a registered Trigenics Myoneural Medicine Physician and is also a certified Functional Movement Specialist. he Oolo-Austin Test – also simply known as “the Austin Test” – is an orthopedic examination used to assess the axial rotation range of motion of the thoracolumbar spine. The test is named after the founder of Trigenics“ Myoneural Medicine, Dr. Allan Oolo- Austin. The test is a range of motion assessment used in conjunction with the Trigenics® neuromanual treatment system. It primarily targets the multifi dus and erector spinae muscles of the back. Muscles are the source and the recipient of the greatest amount of neural activity in the . Trigenics is based on detecting and correcting sensorimotor dysfunction causing neuromusculoskeletal and articular conditions. It is the philosophy of the Trigenics prac- titioner that the etiology of such conditions lay fi rst in the aberrant sensorimotor control of the holding and moving elements, which traverse the associated joints(1) controlling or restricting movement. The secondary causes in chronic cases are often due to resultant dysfunction of associated and related tissues, which form a “neuropathophysiologic dys- functional kinetic chain continuum”(1) . By using the Oolo-Austin Test one is able to de- termine which muscles of the spine are in a hypertonic, overfacilitated state or conversely those that are in a hypotonic, inhibited state. Numerous studies have been performed that link dysfunction of the multifidus and erector spinae spasm with chronic low back pain and loss of range of motion(7) . Notables such as the late Vladimir Janda, who did extensive studies on functional neurokinetic imbalance patterns due to dysafferentation(1,7) . Chiropractic and . Janda was a neurologist who later special- ized in manual medicine and rehabilitation. His extensive understanding of both practices allowed him to explain chronic pain syndromes in a manner that integrated neurologically based principles with manual medicine procedures and techniques(6) osteopathic manipulative procedures has been proven effective in the restoration of range of motion in chronic back pain sufferers; however, osseous manipulation procedures have not always proven to be enough, as this does not correct the root cause of the problem, which is “aberrant post-trauma neurology”(1) . This is where the Trigenics myoneural treat- ment system plays an intricate role in the correction of aberrant neuromotor control. In developing his test, Oolo-Austin points out that a study by Kuriyama et al. measured the electromyography activity of the multifi di muscles and the longissimus muscles dur- ing active lumbar range of motion(4) . The study utilized Kinesiologic electromyography (EMG) to record muscle activity, in standing resting position, and also during active trunk forward fl exion and extension, lateral bending and axial rotation. No muscular activity 46 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | SEPTEMBER 2008 www.canadianchiropractor.ca Jack Hewitt, BA Kin, DC, CSCS, RTP feature
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