Back pain and in particular low back pain is one of the most frequent and painful ailments in modern society, unfortunately many approaches fail to address the most frequent causes of back pain and that is simply how often we mis-use our bodies in modern living, our body systems are out of balance and our backs and necks are usually the first casualty.
There are a number of short term interventions which I am sure most back sufferers are familiar with but many offer immediate relief do not address the root cause of the problem and so help relieve the symptom which is important if you are suffering but if the problem recurs then you might like to consider investigating the root cause and very often the cause is the way we move around in our daily lives.
The issue is that for much of the day people are using their backs and spine in ways that cause initially discomfort, then later pain and finally may cause longer term changes in the body like a stoop, text neck or dowager’s hump.
F.M. Alexander discovered that to improve how we use our bodies, we must first identify and gradually eliminate harmful habits in our movement and posture. It is not a quick fix because of the way our brains work, the reason we have postural and movement patterns (or habits) is because we are designed not to overload ourselves with having to think through every movement we make during the day. Watch how a three year old does something for the first time and compare with the way a middle aged adult does the same thing. The difference is that the three year old is still learning how to move and manipulate objects in their world and so they have a fresh approach to everything they do and have not yet corrupted patterns of movement, the adult has already done it thousands of times and has lots of other things to worry about like deadlines, paying bills and cooking the evening meal and so they have certain ‘autopilot’ ways of moving and so have normalised the very things that are hurting them.
Habits are difficult to change because they operate unconsciously. They often go unnoticed Habits are not easy to remove because they are not conscious activities, yet if badly adjusted to our needs they can cause havoc with our well being.
Another important aspect of back pain is that our sensations of pain are not always a reliable indicator of what is occurring. Additionally, when our backs hurt, we instinctively stiffen to protect them. Unfortunately, this stiffening can quickly become a habit, trapping us in a downward spiral of increasing pain and tension.
When an Alexander Technique teacher uses their hands to guide you through simple activities like sitting in a chair and then standing up they use finely tuned and skillful hands to find out what’s going on inside your body. They assess how you are caring for your spine during movement and whether you are unknowingly creating strain and compression. The teacher works with you to re-educate your nervous system so that you work with your body rather than against it.
Short term physical manipulation that is offered by other types of therapist can certainly provide instant relief but if you find that you need to keep returning for treatment then I would like to suggest that the reason is that nothing was done to help you identify and solve the underlying postural and movement habits that cause the problem to appear again and again.
Simply strengthening muscles is not always the solution. F.M. Alexander, a pioneer in his field, emphasized that if the problem is the way you are using your muscles, if there is imbalance, if the wrong muscles are doing the wrong job then strengthening them will tend to exaggerate and not improve the problem.
If you are on the hamster wheel of back pain then maybe it’s time to look to see if the root cause of the problem can be identified?
Jon is an Alexander Technique teacher working out of Dolphinton Scotland serving mainly the Biggar, Peebles and West Linton areas, if you suffer from back pain please consider booking a free first session, no obligation.
Footnote:
Of course some back pain is caused by physical damage you should of course always seek a medical diagnosis but for many back pain sufferers the problem can be addressed or reduced by looking at how you are using your back, neck spine and in fact how you are using your entire body.