What is the Alexander Technique?

How does the Alexander Technique work?

What is the Alexander Technique?

The Alexander Technique is a treatment used - particularly in the United States - to help people overcome specific, or general, painful physical conditions caused by their posture.

This therapy has been developed for over a hundred years and has had success in helping individuals improve their posture and control, or remove symptoms. The basic idea underpinning the Alexander Technique is that your posture can affect your health - particularly when it comes to back pains, neck pains and other 'physically-related' symptoms.

It seeks to educate patients into a realisation of how their particular posture is affecting their health - and helps them 're-train' their bodies to change this. At the heart of this understanding of the importance of posture is the relationship between the head and the neck.

If the neck muscles are overworking in order to accommodate a poor posture this can affect the whole body. When the neck muscles do not overwork, the head balances lightly at the top of spine.

This key relationship - between the head and the spine, via the neck, is seen to determine the quality of the body's overall co-ordination. All of this is important because of the basic human, upright, natural stature - where our neuromuscular system is designed to work with the forces of gravity.

The correct head posture means that the body works more in harmony with gravity - while an incorrect head posture will force the rest of the body to compensate for having to 'fight against' gravity. A good head posture will encourage the spine to lengthen, rather than compress, as we move and will improve our health.

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