Applied Alexander Technique Blog

Back Pain Epidemic Outpaces Treatment Options

This is the first of a series aired this week by the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, on back pain and treatment options. The numbers are beyond belief: we spend $90 billion a year in the US on back pain treatments; $60,000 per surgery.

Last night they showed this video, Cutting Down on Back Pain Without Surgery. Brian Williams began by saying that they double-checked the numbers from Monday's broadcast because they were so unbelievable.

They're real. Check it out:

Robert Bazell ends the video saying, "...but experts say most people should try a non-surgical treatment first."

A recent study shows 85% reduction in back pain without surgery and with zero serious adverse effects, through 24 lessons in the Alexander Technique. It was published on August 19, 2008 in the British Medical Journal.

Contact me at: dbenyehuda(at)comcast(dot)net

Dana Ben-Yehuda, M. AmSAT
Media Spokesperson American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT)
and Certified Alexander Teacher

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Several months ago I returned to meditation after some years away. As I sit, quietness seeps through my body and all my cares fall away. I take time just to be in my body and enjoy the aliveness that it brings.

It reminds me of a story I used to make up about why going to the ballroom dance lightens my spirits so much. I used to imagine that I brought a big, white box all tied up with a big, red ribbon with me. I’d put all my troubles into it and leave the box right by the entrance door to the dance. I’d go in and dance and hope that someone would pick up that box and steal it. That never happened, but on my way out, I’d pick up the box and somehow, it was always lighter.

The same thing happens when I meditate. All the rest of the world can wait while I settle into my body and sit in a chair. I let a few deep breaths in and out. I let all the cares and woes wait and I focus on the flow of energy going right through my body.

The Alexander Technique does something very similar for me. The first step is awareness. In that way, it reminds me of a meditation in the body. It is always done in present time and all the work you do to retrain how you move is done in the Now.

I invite you to come try a lesson. Park your troubles at my door in the big white box with the nice red ribbon and come on in.

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Posted In: Alexander Technique , Mindfulness

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Hello my friends,

Thanks for stopping by to say hi. I feel the need to take a break from news about back pain and tell you about a baby giraffe that was recently born at the world-famous San Diego Zoo.

You might think that this story is about Giraffes because I'm an Alexander teacher. After all, we deal with the poise of heads on top of necks. They are graceful and they have amazingly long necks that have only 7 vertebrae - just like us. Did you know that?

The truth is, I've always liked animals and Giraffe have always fascinated me. I went to high school in San Diego and visited the Zoo frequently.

Giraffes are so big and so shy. They are gentle creatures with huge eyes, the longest eyelashes imaginable, and incredibly powerful, fast legs. Here are fascinating facts about Giraffes.

On a recent visit to San Diego, I went to the Zoo with a friend and we saw the Giraffes. I don't know if it was Debbie the Giraffe who gave birth shortly thereafter, or another one, but it is an amazing process to witness.

Here's a video. I can't believe the baby falls six feet as it's born, and survives.

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The American Society for the Alexander Technique announced:

A clinical trial published in the British Medical Journal show Alexander Technique lessons are effective and provide long-term benefit.

As reported by the British Medical Journal on August 19, 2008, back pain sufferers who took 24 lessons in the Alexander Technique had 85% less back pain, one year after the study began. The number of days in pain fell to only three per month, vs. 21 days in pain in the control group. The average number of activities limited by back pain had fallen by 42%. Six lessons followed by exercise were about 70% as effective as 24 lessons.

There were zero adverse effects by any of the participants who received Alexander Technique lessons.

Click here to download a copy of the press release in PDF format.

Or read it here, online.

Continue reading "Study Results Show 85% Reduction in Back Pain" »

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Posted In: Alexander Technique , Free Classes & Literature & Current Events , Health issues and Illnesses

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Good morning my friends!

We have news again, about back pain and the Alexander Technique.

Dr. Peter Gott writes a nationally syndicated column for United Media. Today's column is about low back pain and alternative methods for treating it.

Dr. Gott responds to a reader with sciatica and low back pain. He admires his reader's desire to avoid surgery and suggests several methods for non-surgical intervention. He correctly identifies the Alexander Technique in terms of postural issues, noting that it deals with the spine, and refers to the head, neck, and back relationship. However, he didn't discuss the significant implications of a recent study on low back pain, long-term relief, and the Alexander Technique.

I'm writing to call a very recent, large scale study on low-back pain and the Alexander Technique to Dr. Gott's attention. The British Medical Journal published research on August 19, 2008, titled "Randomised controlled trial of Alexander technique lessons, exercise, and massage (ATEAM) for chronic and recurrent back pain." This was a large-scale study with 579 participants, one of the few to show long-term relief from back pain.

The Pittsburg-Post Gazette quotes the study on September 11, 2008:

"...out of 579 subjects with lower back pain, the 144 who took 24 lessons in the Alexander Technique had an average 48 percent reduction in their Roland disability score, and an 86 percent reduction in their days of pain compared with the control group of 144 subjects, who had no intervention."

That's only 3 days in pain per month compared to 21 days in pain per month for the control group.

Click here to download a copy of the study directly, in PDF format.

These is a significant study and I encourage Dr. Gott to write about it!

---------------------------

Dana Ben-Yehuda is the Media Spokesperson for the American Society for the Alexander Technique. Download the AmSAT Press Kit by clicking here.

Contact her for further information or interviews, at:
dbenyehuda@comcast.net
650-964-4308

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Hello friends,

With all the talk about the ATEAM study about Alexander Technique and back pain, are you left behind in the dust wondering what the heck the Alexander Technique is, anyway? And how does it work and what are the principles upon which it is based?

I just knew you'd say you couldn't wait to hear more. Here is the answer for you, nice and easy and all wrapped up in a nutshell. Aren't you just a wee bit curious? Read on, and I'll speak about golfing and being centered.

I'll even tell you why learning about the principles matters. Promise!

Here are five basic principles of the Technique:

• faulty sensory awareness - this is the sense of where we are in space, called proprioception. Try looking in the mirror; are you surprised to see imbalances that you do not feel? Our inner sense can be tuned up again so it gives a truer picture.

• force of habit - you can learn to change poor postural habits to positive ones and put this force to work for you in a very good way

• the primary control – that the head-neck relationship is of primary importance in coordinating the use of the entire psycho-physical being

• inhibition – to refrain from doing. Here's an example:

the idea of sitting down often triggers an automatic response to tighten the back of the neck and retract the head. You can learn not to compress your spine by not contracting your head and neck. Are you automatically trying it as you read this? It's not easy, is it. That's faulty sensory awareness (see above).

• direction – consciously directing the body with our thought

Why does any of this matter?

Continue reading "What is the Alexander Technique?" »

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Hello my friends,

Did you know that back pain is the most common kind of pain suffered here in America?

According to the American Pain Foundation, “Back pain is the leading cause of disability in Americans under 45 year old. More than 26 million Americans between the ages of 20-64 experience frequent back pain.”

My previous post brought a recent publication to your attention. On August 19, 2008, the British Medical Journal published research that showed long-term benefits of Alexander lessons for the
relief of back pain, that have been shown to be effective a year later.

Given how many people suffer from back pain, is it any wonder that articles referencing the study have sprouted like mushrooms, overnight? Google cited 88 articles in 48 hours since the study was released.

One of my colleagues, Debby Jay*, recently sent out highlights of a couple of these articles. Thanks very much, Debby, for sharing this:

From PULSE (a resource for MD's in England):

Alexander technique offers major back pain benefits

20 Aug 08
By Nigel Praities

Alexander technique provides significant benefit over usual care for
patients with chronic low back pain, say the authors of the first long-term UK trial ...

In a landmark trial likely to be considered in the National Institute of
Clinical Health Excellence (NICE) guidelines for back pain due for release next year, 24 sessions of Alexander technique resulted in a 86% reduction in days in pain and a 42% reduction in disability compared with usual care after one year ...

Professor Paul Little, lead author and professor of primary care research,
said his study showed Alexander technique was a low-cost alternative to
currently available care...

Continue reading "Back Pain: Alexander Technique Provides Long-Term Relief" »

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Good news, my friends!

The British Medical Journal just published results from the first, large-scale trial of the Alexander Technique. This is a large-scale, randomized, controlled study of back pain and the Alexander Technique.

The British Medical Journal published the study results on 8/19/08. Results are very favorable! You can find it at the BMJ website or here is a direct link to the study.

Also, here are links to articles that already came out since the study was released. Wow, the press is quick on the draw!

BBC News: Back pain eased by good posture

Telegraph News: Alexander posture technique 'most effective at reducing back pain'

The Guardian: Health: Alexander technique 'does ease back pain'

The Daily Mail: An old cure for a modern malaise: Alexander Technique can beat chronic back pain

It is wonderful to share this news and just in time for International Alexander Awareness Week, October 4 - 12, 2008. Stay tuned.... :-)

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Hello, my friends. How are you today?

Here’s a question for you. Have you had your eyes examined recently? I did, and learned that flashing eyes are not just a figment of fiction and fairy tales.

Dr. Michael Marmor, world-renowned retinal specialist and Professor of Ophthalmology, Stanford University, sat across from me. He wanted to measure the electricity that is emitted from my retina, as a measure of the health of my eye.

“Do you mean that our eyes really emit electricity?”

“Yes!”

I started to smile, “…so the idea of someone having flashing eyes is real?”

“We are electrical beings. The body works through electricity!”

I was fascinated. Pacemakers work on electricity. Brain neurons and in fact, the nervous system communicate electrically. Now I learn that our eyes not only have electricity, they emit it.

Continue reading "Beings of Light" »

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“You have such good posture!”

“Do people tell you a lot that you have great posture?”

“I want to have good posture like you.”

I hear things like this very often but am always caught offguard. Given that the work I do is helpful for being upright, my own surprise is surprising, so I took some time to think about it.

I suppose I do have what you’d call good posture. It’s the way I use myself; it’s how I move and stand. But that’s not really the point of this work, at least not the first point of it.

One of the principles of the Technique is that Use affects Functioning. I think that given the constraints of a condition, practicing the Alexander Technique is one way to have the best Use possible, and therefore, better functioning.

My teacher-trainer, Giora Pinkas, says that we have to “honor the structure.” It is not about forcing your bones into a shape they cannot go. It’s more about realizing that, given the limitations of anyone’s structure, how can we have some ease? How can we have the best functioning possible?

Along with that ease and better functioning, does good posture evolve as a result? Or is better posture part of finding more ease?

Continue reading "Posture Happens" »

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Hello friends,

Some of my friends’ children are having children of their own. I get the fringe benefit of being a distant “Auntie” and get to see many photographs that they share.

We were noticing how babies sit and how they have such naturally beautiful posture.

Don’t you love the way he's so upright? I could just sit here looking at this picture and be inspired by the human form.

My friends have been buying baby furniture and I thought back to the days before my son was born. I probably drove my family a bit nutty with my insistence on finding furniture that would support a baby’s naturally upright posture. I wouldn’t use one of the umbrella style strollers, except as necessary for travel. I wanted a flat bed for the carriage, not an umbrella cloth-backed stroller. I saw too many babies sleeping sitting up, hunched over with their heads falling forwards onto their chests.

I don’t know, but I suspect – that putting babies into unsupported furniture is not helpful, over time, in supporting their development. They are so naturally open in their bodies, and so malleable and tender. Look how they sleep; they don't need anything to be comfortable.

I haven't looked at baby strollers and carriages in recent years so I don't know what is out on the market, nor what specific brands or models to suggest to my friends for their grandchildren. But I do see that babies are still being born as wonderfully, naturally upright little people, so my thought is to look for equipment that supports that natural position.

We’re born with a natural uprightness. Here’s a reminder. Enjoy!

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Hello again!

How did you come to find this blog? How did you find out about the Alexander Technique?

A number of people have come to me for lessons recently. When I asked how they found out about the Alexander Technique, several people have said that they have been reading a book:

How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live: Learning the Alexander Technique to Explore Your Mind-Body Connection and Achieve Self-Mastery, by Missy Vineyard

People tell me they are enjoying the book. It has many case studies with interesting stories and also gives a great amount of detailed information about studying the technique, and also, teaching it.

I know of this book from Missy Vineyard, and have been reading it, myself. I find that it is not simple reading, however it has a great deal of information that’s both interesting and also, food for thought. I particularly enjoy her discussion of the mind-body connection and neuroscience.

If you are looking for a complete book, this may be a good place to start.

Continue reading "How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live: Learning the Alexander Technique to Explore Your Mind-Body Connection and Achieve Self-Mastery, By Missy Vineyard" »

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