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AK is a tool that is used by many health care professionals, and especially by chiropractors. A literature review published in 1999 by researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Foundation for Allied Conservative Therapies Research in Chapel Hill stated that, although AK appears to be a promising methodology, there is a lack of research results relevant to clinical practice and outcomes of AK care. They found this lack of results surprising, since cost, satisfaction, utilization, and changes in symptoms are the important results of clinical practice. In addition, they determined that some studies that were supposed to be an evaluation of AK procedures did not actually use clinical practices and principles of AK. However, from studies adhering to AK principles and employing standardized training by well-trained practitioners, they did state there was some evidence that AK is an objectively verifiable phenomenon. They suggested that "future studies of AK should focus on outcomes of care, including symptoms, function, costs, and safety. Only well-designed studies that account for the individual nature of AK diagnosis and treatment and preserve the proper clinical context of AK treatment will be informative. Understanding the individual components of the process of AK treatment remains important. Studies addressing validation of isolated AK procedures need to meet the methodological challenges of studying appropriate subjects that reflects the current recognized practice and understanding of AK. Further evaluation of the basic physiologic phenomena involved and correlation of AK manual muscle test results will also advance understanding of this diagnostic and therapeutic system."
— Judith Sims
