A major clinical trial published yesterday in the prestigious Annals of Internal Medicine, demonstrates that both Alexander Technique lessons and acupuncture lead to long-term benefits for people with chronic neck pain. Our own Alexander Technique teacher, Julia Woodman contributed to the trial and has provided a summary of the findings.
Following either 20 one-to-one Alexander lessons, or 12 acupuncture sessions (of equal overall time to the Alexander lessons), people experienced nearly a third less pain and associated disability at the end of the trial, 1 year later. This reduction was significantly greater than that experienced by the group who received usual GP-led care alone. The reduction is particularly encouraging given that the trial participants had experienced their neck pain for an average of 6 years before joining the study, so many had quite an intractable problem. The study also showed that people’s ability to manage and reduce their pain (‘self-efficacy’) increased following Alexander lessons or acupuncture and that this contributed to the long-term reductions in pain and incapacity that were observed.
We offer both acupuncture and Alexander Technique lessons at Portobello Natural Health, so if you have chronic neck pain you may like to consider having some acupuncture sessions first followed by Alexander Technique lessons. Acupuncture can relieve pain by diverting or changing the painful sensations that are sent to your brain from damaged tissues and by stimulating your body’s own pain-relieving and self-healing functions. Alexander lessons will then give you the tools for continued self-care to help prevent future relapses.
To discuss how acupuncture or the Alexander technique could help you or to book an appointment go to our contacts page here:https://portobellonaturalhealth.com/contact/
For further information on the trial click on the link here: http://www.julia-woodman.co.uk/scientific-research/neck-pain-trial/
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