Alexander Technique - Effectiveness

Effectiveness

There is evidence that the Alexander technique is effective and cost-effective in the management of chronic pain.

A 2002 randomized controlled UK university study of 93 people with clinically confirmed idiopathic Parkinson's disease found that participants who received Alexander Technique lessons reported sustained improvements in their physical functioning, as well as reporting themselves to be less depressed and to have improved attitudes towards themselves.

A 1997 study published by The Gerontological Society of America concluded that Alexander Technique instruction shows signs of helping to improve balance and increase functional reach in women over the age of 65.

A systematic 2003 review of controlled clinical trials related to the Alexander Technique found two reputable studies suggesting the Alexander Technique is effective in reducing the disability of patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease and improving pain behaviour and disability in patients with back pain, and concluded that the evidence supporting the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique is encouraging but not convincing.

A factorial randomized trial of 579 UK patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain, reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that patients who received Alexander Technique lessons reported afterwards having less back pain and significant improvement in their quality of life. The study concluded that one-on-one lessons in the Alexander Technique from registered teachers have long term benefits for patients with chronic back pain, and that six lessons followed by exercise prescription were nearly as effective as 24 lessons.

A 1996 Tel Aviv hospital study of 67 patients with back pain of more than three months duration found patients benefited from a multidisciplinary approach to treatment that included back schooling, psychological intervention, and treatment by acupuncture, chiropractic, the Alexander Technique and a pain specialist.

In 2001, an article by four doctors in Kidney International, the official journal of the International Society of Nephrology, noted that although to date there had been no controlled studies performed in patients with autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease with refractory pain, their personal observation in isolated cases indicated that the Alexander Technique helped relieve patients' pain, particularly when accompanied with whirlpool treatments and massage therapy.

However, in 2004, Maher concluded that "Physical treatments, such as acupuncture, backschool, hydrotherapy, lumbar supports, magnets, TENS, traction, ultrasound, Pilates therapy, Feldenkrais therapy, Alexander technique, and craniosacral therapy are either of unknown value or ineffective and so should not be considered" when treating lower back pain with an evidence-based approach.