Pain of back: the kindness of the Alexander technique

October 20, 2008 Category: Motivation Print This Article

Compared to the classic treatment and the massage, the Technique Alexander. who puts the accent on better postural habits – would relieve people enduring pains of back, according to a survey anglaise1, more.

The researchers of the Bristol board university led their survey by 579 topics that, during the clinical test of an one year length, have all received the classic medical treatments against the lombalgie.

The patients have been distributed in four groups: care medical classics only (group witness), massage therapy, six individual lessons of Technique Alexander and 24 sessions of the same technique. Besides, each of these groups has been divided in two subgroups: the first saw itself prescribing sessions of physical exercise (the most often of the walking) while the other didn’t receive any instructions to this effect.

According to the results, at the end of one year, those that participated in 24 lessons of Technique Alexander reduced of 42% their physical inability – difficulties to walk, to make the shoppings, to clean, etc. – compared to the topics of the group witness at that one didn’t observe any long-term considerable improvement. The number of days to the course of which the pains appeared fell also of 86%. The topics that followed six lessons and to that one had also prescribed the physical exercise got comparable results.

As for the massage, he/it would have reduced of 33% the frequency of the pains without having meaningful effect on the physical inability.

The Technique Alexander is one fashion of somatic education, that one can also call postural rehabilitation or psychomotor rehabilitation. This approach requires an active and consistent involvement on behalf of the pupil. Generally, the teaching makes itself individually. A lesson hard of 30 to 40 minutes. The teacher intervenes by verbal instructions and by the touch (light) in order to learn again to the topic to walk, to sit down, to get up or to breathe correctly. One suggests to foresee a meeting per week, during 20 to 30 weeks. Thereafter, most people can pursue the training by themselves and can apply the new principles in their usual activities.