ENPeople almost always look for bioresonance testing in Germany from one situation: after seeing doctor after doctor there is still no diagnosis, and a device is promised that “scans the whole body in an hour”. Before travelling to another country for such a test, it is worth knowing what the device measures and what German medicine makes of it.
Below: where the method came from and what its idea is, what testing showed, why a printout with a long list of “burdens” is dangerous not in itself but in what follows it, and which examinations in Germany actually answer the question “what is wrong with me”. For the wider picture, see diagnostics in Germany.
What bioresonance is and what the device promises
Proponents of bioresonance hold that cells and organs emit their own electromagnetic oscillations, that illness alters their “frequency”, and that a device picking up the signal through skin electrodes can read that frequency and even correct it with an inverted signal. The method appeared in Germany in the late 1970s as “Mora therapy” and spread mainly through private practices and centres of so-called alternative medicine.
At an appointment, electrodes are held in the hands or placed on skin points, a program runs on a screen, and within half an hour to an hour comes a printout of “burdens”: parasites, heavy metals, fungus, intolerance of dozens of foods. No needles, no pain and usually no lab tests alongside: hence the feeling of a simple answer to a complicated question.
An important point about geography: the device comes from Germany, but that does not make it part of German clinical medicine. Bioresonance is offered by private practices, not by university hospitals and not within the statutory insurance system.
What the tests found
Independent studies, including blinded ones in which the device was tried on people with a known diagnosis and on healthy volunteers, produced no reproducible results: the same person tested again received different “burdens”. No physical basis for the claimed mechanism was found either.
In Germany the method counts as a procedure without proven benefit: the statutory health insurance funds do not pay for it, and medical societies do not include it in their guidance on diagnosing allergy and intolerance. The German guideline on food allergy names bioresonance among the tests not to be used to diagnose food allergy or intolerance.
The device itself is harmless, but the printout is usually followed by a strict diet with no medical basis, months of supplements, abandoning prescribed medication and, most importantly, lost time in which the real cause of the symptoms stays unfound. On allergy specifically: a list of “intolerances” from such a printout replaces neither skin testing, nor blood tests, nor a supervised challenge test. How allergens are really found is explained under allergy treatment in Germany.
What to ask if you go anyway
Ask which study shows that this device measures anything; whether a doctor runs the appointment and in which specialty; what will be proposed after the result and at what cost; and whether prescribed medication will be stopped. Such questions work better than any argument, and the answers usually settle the matter.
Red flags: a diagnosis with no examination and no laboratory tests, supplements sold at the same appointment, a request to stop treatment prescribed by your treating doctor, a promise to “find the cause of any illness”, and the claim that the method is “recognised in Germany”. That last one is easy to check: in German clinical medicine it is not.
What Germany offers instead
Instead of the device, German doctors work step by step: a detailed conversation and examination first, then laboratory tests aimed at a specific hypothesis, then imaging, and only then narrow tests. It takes longer than half an hour with electrodes, but each step answers the question that was asked.
For unclear complaints — fatigue, pain, digestive trouble, skin reactions — that means basic blood work, thyroid values, iron metabolism and inflammation markers, skin tests and specific antibodies where allergy is suspected, endoscopy for bowel symptoms, and a psychosomatic consultation where appropriate. Typical programmes: the check-up in Germany and the full body examination in Germany.
Nor is the opposite extreme a good idea: testing “for everything” has its own price in consequences, as incidental findings lead to unnecessary procedures. That is why in Germany the scope is set by a doctor for a specific complaint, not by a device’s software and not by the patient.
Frequently asked questions
Is bioresonance testing recognised in Germany?
No, German clinical medicine does not recognise it: the statutory health insurance funds do not pay for it, and medical societies do not include it in their guidance on diagnosing allergy and intolerance. That the device comes from Germany says where the method came from, not that it works.
Can bioresonance detect an allergy or a food intolerance?
No. Bioresonance is not part of the guidance on diagnosing allergy, and independent tests found no reproducible results. An allergy is confirmed by skin tests, a blood test for specific IgE antibodies and, where needed, a challenge test supervised by a doctor. A printout of “intolerances” is no reason for a strict diet.
Is bioresonance testing harmful?
The device itself is harmless; the harm lies in what follows the printout: a strict diet with no medical basis, months of supplements, abandoned medication. Above all, time is lost while the real cause of the symptoms stays unfound. If you do go, do not stop prescribed treatment without your own doctor.
How AlenMed arranges the examination
AlenMed starts with documents: existing reports and test results are translated and go to a specialist, who says which investigations are needed and in what order; then come the appointment, the visa invitation letter, the transfer, an interpreter at the consultation and a written report with a translation. The company arranges examinations in its partner clinics — 86 hospitals in 38 German cities — and does not work with methods without proven benefit: if the request is “bioresonance”, the conversation starts with the complaint behind it.
Plan ahead how many days the examination will take and what can be done at home before the trip: both depend on the complaint and on the tests already available. If a diagnosis exists but treatment is not helping or raises doubts, a second opinion from a German doctor makes sense.
This material is for information and is not an offer. The scope of the examination and the reading of the results are decided by a doctor in person.