Why put on an Alexander Technique Workshop just for women?
Are You Sitting Comfortably?
Are You Sitting Comfortably? No?
UEL Wellness Day ’14
University of East London Wellness Day 18 November
Allow Pain to be Your Teacher
As I Say to My Pupils – ‘Pain Can be a Good Teacher’
Research into Balance and the Alexander Technique
Study: Can the Alexander Technique Improve Balance and Mobility in Older Adults with Visual Impairments?
Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Alexander Technique
Women’s bodies go through dramatic changes during pregnancy and, as the NHS Choices website states, many women experience back pain, particularly during the last weeks of pregnancy. As the baby grows, the woman’s ligaments become more stretchy and the extra weight of the baby tends to drop forwards and down, tilting the pelvis, so that the pregnant mother often loses the length and strength in her lower back, increasing the lordosis and compressing the lumbar vertebrae. This extra tilting of the pelvis can also contribute to pain in the pelvic area, as in Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD).
Paracetamol Doesn’t Help Lower Back Pain
The Lancet has just published the results of a research trial that took place in Australia, which looked at the efficacy of prescribing paracetamol for people with acute lower back pain (24 July 2014). This research was a randomised, controlled trial with over 500 subjects in each group, taken from primary care centres in Sydney and the results show that paracetamol is no more help than taking a placebo at aiding recovery from acute lower back pain!
‘What is already known on this topic
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Clinical guidelines recommend paracetamol as first line a
nalgesic drug for both spinal pain (neck and low back pain) and osteoarthritis of the hip and knee -
The evidence base supporting these recommendations has recently been called into question
What this study adds
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High quality evidence suggests that paracetamol is ineffective in reducing pain and disability or improving quality of life in patients with low back pain
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There is high quality evidence that paracetamol offers a small but not clinically important benefit for pain and disability reduction in patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis
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Though high quality evidence shows that patients taking paracetamol are nearly four times more likely to have abnormal results on liver function tests compared with those taking oral placebo, the clinical relevance of this is unclear.’
Chilling Out in the Garden
After the Work – Enjoy your Garden
Mindfulness and the Alexander Technique
Mindfulness
the help of Irene Tasker, a Montessori and AT teacher and the children were given Alexander Technique lessons alongside ordinary schoolwork, so that they were taught how to be aware of their psychophysical functioning – that is, their thinking and body use – throughout their school day. Unfortunately the second World War interrupted the work of this school and it was not able to be re-started after the war ended. Today, a number of schools incorporate the Technique into the curriculum to great effect, as do music and drama colleges.
NHS Overview of Alexander Technique
- Back Pain
- Headaches
- Mood swings
- Posture
- Repetitive Strain Injuries
- Stress
- Whiplash