Graham Smithwick
Q: How do you heal a weight bearing joint?
A: You must "use" it just rightly!
Alexander Technique turned the key to correct use for my hip strain, which had aggravated into bursitis.
By the time I came to Alexander Technique in mid-2009, my pain had stopped me from dancing. I had tried just about everything:
1st Prescription Drugs (NSAID's) and Steroid Injections, but they just masked the pain.
2nd Hatha Yoga, but that immobilized me for a time.
3rd Physical Therapy, but the "strengthening" exercises increased the pain, and
4th Acupuncture, but without results, and
5th Chiropracic
During this period, I learned some things from other treatments which better prepared me for Alexander Technique. For example, I found that:
the onset of pain after over-use was about 24 to 48 hours,
weight bearing should be limited to lifting less than 50# and carrying should be limited to 25#
range of motion was not a problem,
loss of muscle mass was inclining,
back support while driving was necessary for low back and pelvic support,
even such modest repetitive actions as raising my foot off the accelerator pedal caused tension and low-grade pain,
the focal point of my pain had shifted from the strained rear hip joint to the front at the top of the thigh, and
most importantly, the body's natural response to muscle strain is to protect itself from over-extension by contracting the muscles around the injury to limit the range of motion. This low grade guarded flexion was a compensating mechanism , preventing some injuries but making the body move vulnerable to others and preventing more direct uses from healing the injury.
At first, the technique was experienced, before it was explained:
When lying on a massage-style table, my head was placed up to support my neck and my limbs were extended. By working my muscles, extending and rotating my joints and taking my limbs through their fullest range of motion I could begin to feel, in my passive weight bearing condition, how the teacher was encouraging the natural flow of my bodily energy. I believe I was experiencing the teacher use a certain quiet vitality through touch to convey their unspoken understanding of the energy they had developed in their mind and body through the Technique.
When sitting in a chair, I was positioned in a naturally balanced position by the teacher's hands on my head and neck, under my shoulders, my feet and my hips. After a few times I could begin to feel that same state of 'energization' without tension sustaining my posture. The teacher would also enlist my mind to support what they were doing by asking me to "think" the direction of the body's latent intentions toward movement as it was poised in a variety of light counter balancing positions. When the counterbalance was perfect, the teacher would effortlessly raise me up and back onto the stool. I learned that movement could be thought, and the thought could be held or released into effortless action.
In other words, I began "unlearn" what I thought I knew about how to move and how to heal myself:
standing straight - caused the pelvis and chin to tuck, stretching out the natural curvature of the spine
walking was being directed from the top of the stretch (torso) and powered from the bottom (hips) - instead of centered.
balance was something set - rather than fluid (and possibly flowing with the breath),
sitting tended to be back-weighted and collapsing forward.
In fact, the kinesthetic sense of using my body correctly had become mislead by preconception, habit and bodily tensions of healing compensations.
In conclusion, I have learned better and better use through Alexander Technique, but it has not healed me. The problem was that I could not overcome was the automatic triggering of contraction at the front of the hip, when I was engaged in the slighted unconscious habit, like lifting my foot off the accelerator pedal. Eventually I decided that nonstressful strengthening was needed to give the body a sense that it was protected without going into contraction.
What I found was an isometric stance called "Three Cirlcles" in Chi Quong. What I could see through Alexander Technique was that in this stance
the torso was vertical,
the pelvis released by a modified "monkey" position (with the knees flexed over the toes),
the chin was dropped forward, but
the head was directed back and up,
there was air space at the arm pits, allowing the back to be directed back
the circle of the arms was directing energy forward from the front of the body
the circle of the hands and fingers, particularly the little finger, was directing energy forward and up from the back of the body.
Due to Alexander Technique I was able to recognize the use needed to heal my hip.
My experience suggests that Alexander Technique could become the foundation for learning correct bodily use in all activities.
