Relieve Pain

Pain is the body’s warning system; something is awry.  The most common reasons for pain are:

1. Something is pressing on a nerve.
2. Tissue is swollen.
3. A muscle is over-used or used incorrectly.

In all these examples, the one common thread is that there is a physical stress exerted on either the nerve or the muscle.  To relieve pain, the solution, not surprisingly, is to reduce the stress and in doing so bring the body back to homeostasis.  If something is pressing down, learn not to press.  If a muscle is over-worked or used incorrectly, learn not to do this.  If tissue is swollen, help it to heal faster by not using the body in a way that exacerbates the situation.  This is what the Alexander Technique will teach you.

Does this all sound too simple?  Are you having a hard time accepting that this could be true?  Perhaps if we look at this from an engineering perspective and examine the repercussions of stress on other designs, it will be easier to accept that this could in fact relieve pain.  If I take a chair, I remove one leg and use 3 legs instead of 4, the resulting stress exerted will sooner or later break the chair.  If I take one of the wheels off a car, it won’t even make it down the block.  If I shorten one of the legs of a 40 foot ladder by a mere 3 inches, it becomes completely non-functional.  Do you think these things hold true for other designs, but not for the design of the human body?  Of course not!  If you can see this logic, then you can understand why the Alexander Technique is such a powerful tool.

It’s rare that the human body, given the chance, does not right itself.  During my 25 years of experience, I’ve seen all kinds of people who’ve presented a myriad of complaints.  I’ve even got a couple of doctors who send me “people they don’t know what to do with”.  People get better.  Not because of me, OK, I’m part of it, I help, but because once you have information, once you have an understanding of how the body can and should be used, you can go about righting yourself, and then you can go back to living your life, rather than living your pain.

Check back soon for additional articles on stress,  injuries, back pain, neck pain, sciatica, disc pain, headaches, knee pain, foot pain, and a new area I’m investigating – Autism Spectrum Disorders / ASD.

If you live or work in or around New York and are interested in experiencing how the Alexander Technique can relieve pain, call me directly at 212-691-8607.