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Potential Benefits of
having lessons in the Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique has been
established in the UK for over 100 years and has had support from
prominent physicians and surgeons since its inception.
The Technique is primarily educational in nature, but learning and
applying it may have therapeutic benefits and preventive consequences for
the health of the individual.
Though
teachers do not offer a cure, they can help motivated people with the
following conditions if they are caused or worsened by that person’s
learned way of doing things:
-
Headaches
-
Back pain
-
Neck and shoulder pain
-
Indigestion
-
Loss of voice
-
Osteoarthritis
-
Irritable bowel syndrome
-
Anxiety
-
Stress and related
conditions
-
High blood pressure
-
Anorexia nervosa
-
Agoraphobia
-
Repetitive strain injury
(RSI)
-
Difficulties with
co-ordination and movement
-
Joint and muscle
problems
-
Breathing disorders
-
Lack of
self-confidence
Less
specific symptoms such as:
-
Unnecessary fatigue
- An
inability to progress in a skill
-
General tension and immobility
- Bad
posture
-
Depression
-
Persistent problems related to sports injuries or injuries sustained in
car accidents or at work or home.
Alexander Technique can also help people deal better with chronic medical
conditions such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, M.E.,
osteoporosis.
People hope that by applying the Alexander Technique they can become
alert, balanced relaxed, focused, effective and confident
NHS Choices includes the following
links that include Alexander Technique recommendations:
Does a bad back mean bed rest?
Repetitive Stress Injury
How to prevent RSI
The Parkinson’s Disease Society has funded research into the Alexander
Technique as has The Foundation for Integrated Medicine. Many patients’
self-help groups such as The Migraine Trust, The Dyspraxia Trust, The
Marfan Association UK, The Scoliosis Association (UK) acknowledge the
value of the Technique.
The British Association for Performing Arts Medicine endorses the value of
the Technique in the management of performers’ medical problems.
Excepts taken from reports on
research include:
The Alexander Technique may be offered to benefit
people with PD by helping them to make lifestyle adjustments that affect
both the physical nature of the condition and the person’s attitudes to
having PD.
NICE Clinical Guideline 35 Parkinsons Disease Issued June 2006
A subjective sense of enhanced ease of
breathing has been described after instruction in the Alexander
technique of proprioceptive musculoskeletal education (awareness and
voluntary inhibition of personal habitual patterns of rigid
musculoskeletal constriction).
We conclude that AT musculoskeletal education
may enhance respiratory muscular function in normal adult subjects.
Austin JH, Ausubel P, Department of Radiology, College of Physicians
and Surgeons, Columbia University published in
Chest.
1992 Aug;102(2):486-90
So from personal
experience we can already confirm some of the seemingly fantastic claims
made by Alexander and his followers, namely that many types of
under-performance and even ailments, both mental and physical, can be
alleviated, sometimes to a surprising extent, by teaching the body
musculature to function differently.
Although no one
would claim that the Alexander treatment is a cure-all in every case,
there can be no doubt that it often does have profound and beneficial
effects - and, I repeat once more, both in the ‘mental’ and ‘somatic’
sphere.
Nikolaas Tinbergen, winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Physiology and
Medicine.
Tinbergen devoted a major portion of his acceptance speech to the benefits
of the Alexander Technique. A complete transcript of his address can be
found in Science, 185:20-27, l974.
The Alexander Technique: a systematic review of controlled clinical
trials
AIM: Alexander technique (AT), a process of
psychophysical re-education, is being promoted for a range of medical
conditions. This systematic review is aimed at critically evaluating the
evidence for or against the effectiveness of AT. METHODS: Computerized
literature searches were performed in five databases to locate all
controlled clinical trials of AT in any human condition. Data were
extracted independently by two reviewers according to pre-defined
criteria. The information was summarized in tabular and narrative form.
The methodological quality of the primary studies was assessed using the
Jadad score. RESULTS: Four clinical trials met our inclusion/exclusion
criteria. Only two of these trials were methodologically sound and
clinically relevant. Their results are promising and imply that AT is
effective in reducing the disability of patients suffering from
Parkinson's disease and in improving pain behaviour and disability in
patients with back pain. CONCLUSION: The few controlled clinical trials
of AT yield encouraging albeit not convincing evidence. AT deserves to
be studied in more detail.
Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School,
Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, UK. Edzard.Ernst@pms.ac.uk
Articles about the Alexander
Technique written by physical therapists:
Physical Therapy and the Alexander Technique: An
Overview by John Macy, PT
Alleviating Arthritis Pain and Discomfort: How the
Alexander Technique can Help by Glenna Batson, PT, MA
Alexander Technique and Osteoporosis: Improving
Posture, Mobility and Safety by Idelle Packer, MS, PT, CTAT
Alexander Technique and the Pilates
Method of Movement Re-education: A Biomechanical Perspective by John Macy,
PT
Self-Care Strategies for Avoiding Repetitive
Strain: How the Alexander Technique can Help - by Glenna Batson, PT,
MA
The Alexander Technique: Another Tool for Physical
Therapists by Deborah Caplan, MA, PT
The Alexander Technique: Education for the Aching
Back by Deborah Caplan, MA, PT
The Alexander Technique: A Resource for Reversing
Back Pain and Continued Self-Care by Idelle Packer, MS, PT, CTAT
On Coming to Terms with the 'P' Word" by Marsha
Novak, PT
Where do you Stand on Posture by Idelle Packer,
MS, PT, CTAT
Physical Therapy and the Alexander Technique by
Zora Natanblut, PT, Ph.D
Physiotherapy and the Alexander Technique by Elke
Rudolph, PT
The Alexander Technique by Lilah Brand, PT, MS
Growing Older With Grace by Bruce Kodish, PT, PhD
Balance, For Safety Sake by Idelle Packer, MS, PT,
CTAT
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