Chronic back pain can be soul-destroying, but a new study may offer hope

From The Times – August 23, 2008

WHAT are we to make of this week’s news that the complementary therapy Alexander Technique is an effective treatment for long-term back pain, better than painkillers, physiotherapy, massage or exercise alone? The findings came in an authoritative study in the British Medical Journal.

In the past 20 years research has consistently shown that active approaches - when the patient takes responsibility for exercise - are far more effective than passive ones. It has gone on to show that approaches that give detailed attention to an individual and tailored treatment - such as osteopathy and physiotherapy - are more effective than off-the-peg approaches.

But more recently, as good-quality research studies have been conducted into complementary techniques, the possibility has arisen that yoga and the Alexander Technique hold benefits beyond manipulation and exercise. It has something to do with our minds….

From The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique:

Significant long-term benefit from Alexander Technique lessons for low back pain has been demonstrated by a major study published by the British Medical Journal.

The study of 579 patients with chronic or recurrent back pain assessed the effectiveness of Alexander Technique lessons with experienced STAT teachers and showed that:

• 24 AT lessons proved to be most beneficial
• Six lessons followed by exercise were about 70% as effective as 24 lessons
• Long-term benefits unlikely to be due to placebo effect

What is the Alexander Technique?

The Alexander Technique teaches the skilful “use of the self”: how we move, how we stay still, how we breathe, how we learn, how we organise our awareness and focus of attention and, above all, how we choose our reactions in increasingly demanding situations.

It is a subtle and thoughtful discipline, but essentially practical and problem-solving. The Alexander Technique works through re-establishing the natural relationship between the head, the neck and the back - the “core” of the body that supports the strength of the limbs and which provides the structural environment for breathing and for the internal organs.

The Alexander Technique can enhance personal performance across the whole spectrum of human activity, from elite athletic or artistic performance to the management of disability, pain, illness or injury. Although the effortless upright posture of small children is in sharp contrast to that of most adults, it is possible for practically anyone to rediscover freedom and ease in movement by learning to become aware of, and then learning gradually to strip away, the habits of movement, tension and reaction that interfere with, distort or obscure natural and healthy patterns of coordination.

Learning the Alexander Technique is like learning any complex skill, such as playing a musical instrument or sailing a yacht; you need a teacher to teach you new skills, and to help you to incorporate them into your own understanding.Â