There is new research just out about the Alexander Technique and pain.

Kinesiology Review, 2024,13, 548 – 557   c2024 Human Kinetics, Inc.  KR Vol.13, No. 4, 2024                 hhttps://dol.org/10.1123/kr.2024 – 0035

‘Modern Pain Science and Alexander Technique: How Might Alexander Technique Reduce Pain?’     Hodges, Cohen, Cacciatore

All of the below is taken straight from the article.  Obviously, a great deal has been left out.  The article is free to download until the end of December.

This article brings together research from the fields of pain science and Alexander Technique (AT) to investigate the mechanisms by which AT helps pain.  AT is a cognitive embodiment practice and a method for intentionally altering habitual postural behavior.  Studies show the AT helps with various kinds of pain, although the mechanisms of pain reduction are currently not well understood.

The biomedical model posits that pain is a direct indication of tissue damage and that the underlying pathology must be treated to reduce pain.

There is substantial evidence that psychological and social factors are closely linked to pain.

Overwhelming evidence of nervous system changes and psycho-social influences on pain, as well as reconceptualization of pain as protective rather than indicative of damage, has led to a shift in the understanding and treatment of pain.  Newer interventions for pain and related disability based on this shift take an active approach toward treatment, including behavior change and sensorimotor retraining, a more effective approach that is consistent with AT and other large-scale approaches in kinesiology to promote health, such as the American College of Sports Medicine’s ‘’Exercise is Medicine’’ campaign.

As a result of the new understanding of how closely linked psychological experience is to pain, the mind is now considered a central tool to address pain.

While there is evidence that AT reduces pain, the mechanisms by which this occurs are currently not well understood.  We have seen that there is little direct corelation between tissue damage and pain and that pain is the action of a protective system that includes neural, biological, and psychological mechanisms.  Modern interventions stemming from the new understandings around pain show increased efficacy for improving pain and function compared with older interventions based on a simple biomechanical model.