Many people come to the Alexander Technique because of lower back pain. It’s not surprising. Our lives have become very sedentary and most of us will spend many hours a day in service related jobs sitting at desks looking at computers. Working pain free in our stressful world is becoming very difficult. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, “Nonspecific chronic low back pain (LBP) remains one the most prevalent, expensive, and poorly treated conditions seen by primary care clinicians.[1]
Everywhere we see “cures” for back pain, ranging from surgery to pills, including exercises, chiropractic treatments, physical therapy, steroid shots, and acupuncture to name a few. No one seems to think about prevention.
Prevention is what the Alexander Technique is all about, because the Technique is the study of how we use ourselves. If we have back pain, there is a good chance that something we are “doing” is causing the pain.
The British Medical Journal conducted a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches and treatments in dealing with chronic back pain. Subjects who took Alexander Technique lessons reported long-term benefits.
Best of all, the cessation of the pain is only a small part of what we achieve when we learn to use ourselves better. Alexander lessons enhance everything we do in our lives because they teach us how to stop putting ourselves wrong.
[1] See Glucosamine and the Ongoing Enigma of Chronic Low Back Pain, JAMA, 2010;304(1):93-94.