Research shows sufferers from chronic back pain gain long term benefit from the Alexander Technique
The British Medical Journal (www.bmj.com) has reported the results of a multicentre clinical trial, funded by the Medical Research Council (£585,000) and the NHS Research and Development Fund (£186,000) which showed that Alexander Technique lessons give long-term benefit to chronic low back pain sufferers. The results showed that the Alexander Technique can enable people with chronic or recurrent non-specific low back pain to reduce number of days in pain and overcome associated incapacity. It reported that experience shows it can also help people avoid recurrence.
Clinical trial details in brief
579 people with chronic/recurrent non-specific low back pain were recruited from 64 general practices. They were randomly allocated to four groups: i) a control group receiving normal GP care, ii) 6 classical massage sessions, iii) 6 Alexander Technique lessons and iv) 24 Alexander Technique lessons. Half of each group received a GP prescription for aerobic exercise with behavioural counselling from a practice nurse.
All trial participants in the Alexander Technique lesson groups were taught by experienced STAT certified teachers.
Two main outcome measures were used, the principal one being the Roland-Morris scale, the ‘industry standard’ outcome measure for back function. It consists of 28 statements representing the ways that back pain affects a person’s life. It asks people what they are not able to do from a list of daily tasks such as how far a person can walk without pain, whether sleep or appetite is disturbed by back pain and difficulties in getting out of a chair. The number of statements agreed with, is the score. The lower the score, the better is the person’s condition. The second main outcome measure required patients to record how many days of back pain they had in the last four weeks.
Results in brief
One-to-one Alexander Technique lessons provide significant and important benefit for low back pain patients. Trial results clearly showed that taking one-to-one lessons in the Alexander Technique led to long-term benefits: a reduction in the number of days in pain and significant improvement in function and quality of life. Of the approaches tested, lessons in the Alexander Technique provided the most benefit. The research revealed that following 24 Alexander Technique lessons, the average number of activities limited by low back pain had fallen by 42%, and the number of days in pain had decreased from 21 to 3 days per month one year after the trial started.
Since the effect of massage on activities was no longer significant by one year, but the effect of Alexander Technique lessons was maintained, the trial authors concluded that the long-term benefits of taking Alexander Technique lessons are unlikely to be due to placebo effects of attention and touch and more likely to be due to active learning of the Technique.
A series of 6 Alexander Technique lessons followed by GP-prescribed general exercise was about 70% as beneficial as 24 Alexander Technique lessons alone.
There were no adverse effects recorded in the trial by any of the 288 participants in the Alexander Technique groups who together received a total of over 2,400 AT lessons.
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An appendix to the research paper describes how the Alexander Technique is taught and how the lessons in the trial were conducted.
Click here to Download PDF file from the BMJ.
Little P, Lewith G, Webley F, et al.Randomised controlled trial of Alexander technique lessons, exercise, and massage (ATEAM) for chronic and recurrent back pain. BMJ 2008; 337; a884 Read more »
Key points at a glance
- Research study of chronic low back pain
- 579 people studied
- Comparison of Alexander Technique, massage and exercise
- Greatest benefits came from 24 sessions of Alexander Technique
- Days in pain decreased from 21 to 3 per month
- Lasting benefits
