People ask about the benefits of massage therapy and its effectiveness and relevance when compared to today’s cutting edge medical advances, given the fact that massage therapy is well over 5000 years old. Unlike therapy like the Alexander Technique in Brooklyn massage therapy has been with us since ancient times. In fact the Alexander Technique is only about 100 years old.

You should also consider the fact that any therapy, cure, activity or hobby that can survive for that length of time, must deliver at least some benefits, otherwise it would not have lasted very long. Any massage practitioner or recipient should get the opinion of a much higher authority on the subject, which is that of the medical community itself.

Thanks to the advances in medicine and in medical research, the 5000-year-old massage therapy has now been subjected to every modern test and scrutiny and massage therapy has proven its value in spectacular style.

Massage therapy stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the most modern medical practices of our time and complements beautifully, the modern advances in medicine. The Alexander Technique in New York follows the same principles.

To anybody who practices massage therapy or teaches the Alexander Technique, it is only right and proper that any therapy linked to medicine, should be subjected to the highest scrutiny. That aside, the most amazing is the fact that massage therapy is still considered purely an aid to accepted medical practice or that it is a perk of the rich. It is also amazing that massage therapy is only considered as a result of a life-changing event like a severe illness or injury. Then why is something that is so beneficial to health and wellbeing not an integral part of everyone’s life? Massage therapy and the Alexander Technique can be mastered by using the most incredible tools known to man… your own hands!

Just do not wait for an accident, an ailment or a mid life crisis before you discover one of life’s most accessible, time proven and life enriching activities.

We, as humans, possess positive attributes as well as habits that are both good and bad. Our habits of movement and posture, otherwise known as pre-movement, can cause back and neck pain, lack of energy, and ultimately many other ailments. These habits generally begin forming at an early age. The Alexander Technique in New York can help.

You can reeducate your body by studying The Alexander Technique, which is a method of reeducating your body to move with more freedom, coordination and without harmful tension. It it has been called both a discipline and a therapy but can feel very therapeutic during and following a lesson.

F. M. Alexander’s most basic discoveries are the primary importance of the head, neck and back relationship to directing movement. Lessons to uncover this relationship, along with practice in inhibiting harmful and habitual tensions can bring greater ease.

Humans do not seem to have a good sense of body that many animals in nature have. By that I mean we do not seem to know where our body parts are in space and in relation to each other. The man who created the Alexander technique had a name for the problem, debauched kinesthesia.

Posture, itself, can cause a variety of postures and pains. When you see someone standing slouched over, they probably think they are standing straight. This would be to long-standing dysfunctional habits of posture in support and that person may not ever realize it. The initial response to learning new postural changes is that a person may feel good, it wrong or not quite right.

The basic tool of overcoming problems caused by habitual misuse of our structure, muscles and all the more controllable facilities is to learn in addition. The Alexander Technique teaches this. This inhibition, as Alexander teachers say, is the sort of the thing that ideally occurs before and during the execution of a difficult dive into a swimming pool. The diver needs to release unnecessary tensions and distractions and makes a mental request for those tensions and distractions to stay away during the event.

In the most basic of terms, it is mind over body. The Alexander technique teaches you about the movement of your body and teaches you to keep it in mind. Eventually changing your bad habits into new good habits.

Despite evidence that postural coordination is abnormal in people with LBP, how deficits in postural coordination relate to LBP and the implications of altered postural coordination for intervention still are not clear. People with LBP have deficits in standing and seated balance compared with people without LBP. They also may have deficits in automatic postural coordination. In particular, anticipatory postural adjustments, which precede voluntary movements to stabilize the body in advance and are abnormally coordinated in people with LBP, notably for deep trunk muscles. Preliminary evidence also suggests that automatic postural responses to externally applied perturbations, such as surface translations, may be abnormally coordinated in people with LBP.

Whether abnormal postural coordination can cause or contribute to LBP is not known currently. Some have hypothesized that poor coordination could lead to pain. Like, producing greater loading within the trunk. People with LBP have greater muscular activity and greater spinal loading than people without LBP that may support this hypothesis. Alternatively, abnormal postural coordination could result from the pain itself.

In a case study of a woman with left-sided idiopathic, lumbosacral back pain using the Alexander Technique of New York, the woman was tested 4 months before the lessons and then for 3 months after the lessons. The magnitude and asymmetry of her responses and balance improved and her low back pain decreased after the Alexander Technique of Brooklyn.

An additional research is warranted to study whether Alexander Technique lessons improve low back pain-associated abnormalities in automatic postural coordination and whether improving automatic postural coordination helps to reduce low back pain.

The relationship between the head and the spine is of utmost importance. The head balances lightly at the top of the spine. How we manage that relationship has ramifications throughout the rest of the body. As the boss sets the tone for an organization, the head / spine relationship determines the quality of the body’s overall coordination, either good or bad. The neuromuscular system is designed to work in concert with gravity. Delicate poise of the head sparks the body’s anti-gravity response. A natural oppositional force in the torso that easily guides us upward and invites the spine to lengthen, rather than compress, as we move. Instead of slouching or holding ourselves in a rigid posture, we can learn to mobilize this support system and use it wherever we go.

Young children have this natural poise. If you watch a toddler in action, you will see an erect spine, free joints and a large head balancing easily on a little neck. A healthy child walks and plays with regal posture. Barring birth defects, we all began that way. But over the years, we often lose that spontaneity and ease.

How can we regain that spontaneity and ease that you lost? With a little effort and determination anyone can. You will need to get rid of old habits, heighten your self-awareness and change your thought process to restore your original posture. You need to understand how your body works and how to make it work for you. You can tap more of your internal resources, and begin on a path to enhancing your comfort and pleasure in all your activities.

The relationship between abnormal postural coordination and back pain is unclear. The Alexander Technique (AT) NY aims to improve postural coordination by using conscious processes to alter automatic postural coordination and ongoing muscular activity, and it has been reported to reduce low back pain. This case report describes the use of the AT with a client with low back pain and the observed changes in automatic postural responses and back pain.

A growing number of studies have suggested that people with low back pain (LBP) may have deficits in postural coordination, such as deficits in the coordination of whole-body, voluntary movements (including restricted kinematics and increased muscular activity). Whether abnormal postural coordination can cause or contribute to LBP is not known.

One case of a client of the Alexander Technique (AT) New York was a 49-year-old woman with a 25-year history of left-sided, idiopathic, lumbosacral back pain. Automatic postural coordination was measured using a force plate during horizontal platform translations and one-legged standing.

The outcome of the client was tested monthly for 4 months before AT lessons and for 3 months after taking the lessons. Before lessons, she consistently had laterally asymmetric automatic postural responses to translations. After AT lessons, the magnitude and asymmetry of her responses and balance improved and her low back pain decreased.

The theory is that during stressful situations, the sympathetic nervous system increases activity, leading to the “fight-or-flight” response. Heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, blood supply to the muscles and dilation of the pupils often increase. It has been suggested that chronic stress may lead to negative effects on health such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, upset stomach or gastrointestinal distress, and weakening of the immune system.

Pain can significantly impact our lives and those around us, both emotionally and physically. To enable sufferers to move beyond just accepting, managing, or living with pain is a goal for many medical professionals. While the Alexander Techniques are not intended to be a substitute for specified medical treatments, they are powerfully effective when used in conjunction with them. These techniques can be effectively used to reduce and eliminate pain, as well as assist in dealing with the numerous emotional issues associated with pain. When you are relaxed you are usually happier and feel less pain.

It is always best to speak with your primary healthcare provider about your health and fitness before starting any new therapeutic technique. Before engaging in any technique, you should be aware their safety and effectiveness. If you plan to learn the technique, it is recommended that you choose one who is certified by the recognized national organization, AmSAT (American Society for the Alexander Technique) and who abides by the organization’s standards.

Numerous stress techniques and pain reduction therapeutic approaches exist, with a range of philosophies and styles of practice. Most techniques involve relaxation, exercise and encourage a constructive attitude toward relief. The Alexander Technique of New York offers hands-on guidance and instruction to relieve stress and even pain.