Back Pain and the Alexander Technique
A large piece of research has proved what the Alexander Technique world has known for decades:
“Lessons in the Alexander Technique have long term benefits for chronic back pain”
British Medical Journal 19 August 2008
ATEAM project
The ATEAM research project for patients with chronic low back pain was carried out through researchers at the Universities of Southampton and Bristol. The project divided 579 patients with chronic back pain from 64 GP practices into four groups. The first group was the control who received standard GP care, the second group received regular massage (touch with a non educational content) and the third and fourth groups received 6 and 24 Alexander Technique lessons respectively. Fifty eight different Alexander Technique teachers worked on the project.
Outcomes
One year after the project the group who received 24 Alexander Technique lessons had an average 3 days pain per month compared with11 days in patients who had received 6 Alexander Technique lessons, 14 days in the group who had regular massage and 21 days per month for the group who had usual GP care (painkillers coupled with exercise).
The study concluded that the long term benefits were unlikely to be due to the placebo effect.
