The Alexander Technique makes a real difference to my often tense and busy life. It's thoughtful approach has made me calmer, improved my concentration and given me a clearer sense of my own well being. I am grateful for it. - (Joan Bakewell, TV presenter and Journalist.)
The above statement concurs with my personal experience of the Alexander Technique.
People come along for Alexander Technique lessons for many different reasons:-
As an Alexander Technique Teacher and a practicing Chiropractor I can honestly say that the majority of patients that come along for chiropractic treatment have caused their current condition themselves.
If I ask a Patient attending for Chiropractic "how did you get your pain", or, "what happened to cause your problem...."
Often patients will say "I was lifting .... or, I moved in a certain way, or I have had this problem for a long time I did it doing ..... or, "I have no idea but I have done something" .... and so on.
In medical terms pain is chronic (ongoing for some time) or acute (recent pain), it may be intermittent (comes and goes) or constant.
The pain we are concerned with is often termed mechanical pain, and can be explained as pain that results from bad habits, such as poor posture, poorly-designed seating, and incorrect bending and lifting motions, in other words poor use of ones own body.
As long as there no underlying medical condition this pain usually resolves with time, however if there is a constant habitual 'misuse' occurring then the body will do its best to adapt to the internal conditions being forced upon it by the misuse.
What does this mean?
If I decide to habitually stress a bone or joint in my body then that bone, joint and surrounding tissue will adapt to the stresses placed upon it.
This is why experts can see adaptive changes in skeletons, they are caused repeated physical movements as seen in archers, rowers, and dancers.
Repeated bad or poor habitual movement patterns is called misuse and can cause physical adaptations which may impinge upon related structures causing pain.
You can learn to prevent this potentially damaging adaptation by learning the Alexander Technique.
For more information on the Alexander Technique go to > Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique