Monthly Archives: March 2012

Ban Backward-sloping School Chairs

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One Cause of Back Pain
 
Richard Brennan, an Irish Alexander Technique teacher has created a petition which I fully support, that asks for backward-sloping school chairs to be made illegal in Ireland. However, I would also like this to happen in the UK – and elsewhere.
 
Why? Well the backward slope of the chair offers poor support to children’s backs and the backward angle of the seat encourages the child to curve their spines over their work, rather than to hinge forwards from the hip joints – a movement that allows the spine to remain lengthening. A long spine is a strong spine.
 
Backward Sloping School Chairs Cause Back Pain
 
BackCare UK and STAT argue that these chairs are a major cause of back problems in adults, as a result children using them for hours on end at school – because curling forwards in this way for hours on end encourages the mis-use of their bodies which causes damage such as kyphosis, resulting in back pain for many people later in life. (If you would like to see what kyphosis looks like, see my previous Blog entry here.)
 
Photos Copyright: Richard Brennan
 
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Children who end up curving down over their desks may be learning with their heads but their bodies are being badly educated! Our language encourages a downward contraction as we work – for instance ‘Nose to the grindstone…. Getting down to work… She had her nose in a book…  I must say that adults have similar problems when using backward sloping chairs, whilst many pushchairs that crumple up a baby’s spine are problematic as well.
 
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Using a seat wedge can help a child remain poised even in a backward sloping chair but how much better if the chairs were designed for people, not just for stacking.
 
 
Child Sitting.jpg
 
Of course, children can still slouch and end up with back pain,  even if they have the ‘perfect’ chair and desk to sit at and ultimately it is the way they sit and use their bodies that is crucial. Children can learn the Alexander Technique, which will help them to minimise the problems associated with poor body-use and this will help them avoid pain in the future. This process will be so much easier if children are also given decent seats to sit on whilst they are growing up, developing their own posture and learning how to use their bodies.
 
Sign the Petition
 
So please support Richard Brennan’s petition. Visit the URL below, Sign up and draw this issue to the attention of policy makers:
 
 
 

An Unexpected Lesson in Inhibition & End-gaining

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Learning Through Untangling Knitting Wool!
 
I had a few minutes between teaching pupils and I decided I would sort out some knitting wool that had been stored in a bag for some time. When I opened the bag, there was a very large muddle in the middle, where several balls of wool had become tangled up together.
So I decided to sit in the very welcome Spring sunshine, in order to disentangle them. It was a slow job and an unexpected but good learning process.
More Haste, Less Speed
At the times when I was tempted to end-gain and rush, I usually pulled the wool too hard and made the knots tighter. This made the job more difficult and slowed me down.
When I included more of my Alexander Technique awareness, I stopped, or ‘inhibited’ that urge to rush and used my hands more gently and freely – and the wool was far easier to loosen, so that I could better undo the knots.
The whole process was an interesting little exercise in inhibition and in achieving my goal more successfully when I maintained my awareness of the means whereby I was performing the activity – rather than focussing on time issues and trying to speed up getting to the end.
By not rushing, I did the job more quickly!

Successful Alexander Technique Fundraising Workshop

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Women’s Alexander Technique Workshop raises £265 in Aid of Mary on the Green charity

I am pleased to say that the Women’s Workshop that I held on March 10th in the Newington Green Unitarian Church raised £225 for Newington Green Action Group’s Mary on the Green campaign. When Gift Aid has been added to these donations, we will have made something like £265! This is the second successful workshop that I have run to raise money for this project.  

This money will go towards erecting a memorial to Mary Wollstonecraft, the pioneering feminist who was associated with Newington Green in the 1790s.

Many thanks to Rev, Andy Pakula for allowing us to use the Upper Schoolroom at the Church for the workshop. 

Thanks also to Susan Brennan for assisting me at the Workshop, helping to make it a successful and enjoyable morning’s teaching.

UPDATE

A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft was erected on Newington Green N16, in November 2020. The  sculptor was the world famous artist Maggie Hambling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sculpture_for_Mary_Wollstonecraft

How do You Choose a Computer from an Alexander Perspective?

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An Alexander Technique Perspective on How to Choose a Computer


If you search the internet, there are lots of articles and adverts on how to choose a computer. They discuss speed and memory etc along with the advantages of buying smaller, more portable laptops, even smaller netbooks and now mobile phones that access the internet and fulfil many of the functions of a desktop computer. 

There does not seem to be much consideration as to what effect they might have on someone’s general body-use and functioning when using these very small pieces of equipment for long periods of time. 

They can be great to have if you travel a lot and can be a useful accessory – but are they suitable as the main way to access the internet? 

If you look at people on public transport, the smaller the object gets, the more crumpled and contracted the person tends to be as their necks pull down towards the small screen. Also thesetiny keyboards may well create even more tension in the user, producing more tendinitis and RSI in the future, plus neck and shoulder problems.
Most people are more able to look after their own body-use, their posture and tension levels, when they are able to sit in a balanced manner as they look at an eye-level screen. this is why many offices have health and safety reps giving advice about desk set-ups, trying to avoid health problems from developing. 

There are also some points about posture and computer use that have been put forward for people to read, as in my own article on Ergonomics. It is true that people can cause problems for themselves with their poor posture and mis-use when using a desktop, even with a really good set-up – but it is easier to look after yourself when sitting at a desk. 

Issues to Consider

Ask yourself, how much time would you spend using the internet on your phone or netbook? What happens to your neck, hands and shoulders when you use these? Do you get shoulder / neck/ head / hand / arm / back ache from using any equipment now? Might that get worse with a smaller piece of equipment?

Of course, it is possible in Alexander Technique lessons to learn about using such items of equipment in a way that minimises the likelihood of causing yourself damage and this would help a lot. It is so much easier to prevent problems from arriving than to try to let go of unhelpful habits and heal yourself after you are in pain!

But do you consider these issues before replacing your own desktop computer and buying the latest, smallest gizmo to use in its place? 
If not, you may be setting yourself up for some painful times in the future! 
Is that latest bit of tiny equipment really worth it?

Regaining Control of the Voice

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Nikolaas Tinbergen, Nobel Laureate on FM Alexander’s Work 

 
Nickolaas Tinbergen was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology / Medicine in 1973 and a central focus to his Nobel Prize lecture is given to extolling the discoveries and teaching of F M Alexander, who Tinbergen described as “a very remarkable man” .
Tinbergen talks about how Alexander initially developed his Technique as a way of helping himself with vocal problems, so that he regained control of his voice. Gradually, Alexander developed his Technique and began to help people to re-educate the use of their whole body musculature, with results such as people getting less pain, as well as improving their breathing and vocal functioning.
Tinbergen, his wife and his daughter all had lessons with various AT teachers, assessing the work and the changes they experienced, such as better sleep, easier playing of a musical instrument and reduced blood pressure levels.
In his Nobel Lecture, Tinbergen (back in 1973) asks why the medical profession was still reluctant to acknowledge the Alexander Technique. Today, the Technique has found greater recognition but unfortunately, people are still asking this same question.
Tinbergen’s informative and I think very persuasive speech, is available on YouTube