Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Neck and back pain
Neck tension and back pain can be a real problem for some of us, particularly if we work at a desk and by the afternoon we can be really suffereing and longing for time to go home. For others, the problem may be all day. So what can we do?
As a teacher of the Alexander Technique I meet many people for such reasons and I can empathise with anyone who suffers such problems as it can be debilitating. The problems at a desk are numerous, but in general, we can tend to collapse our posture as we work on the computer, or writing. Our full attention is usually on papers and keyboards at a lower height than our heads and we come down towards them. We stoop. Consequently the weight of our head and upper body gets off balance forwards and gravity pulls us further forwards and down. This causes excessive tension in our back and neck muscles to prevent complete collapse. So we get stiff, the natural curves in our spine get distorted and cartilage becomes compressed. We can then trap a nerve, perforate a disc and cause long term disc degeneration.
There are many treatments that can provide help including massage, physiotherapy, chiropractics, osteopathy and many others. At the end of the day though, even if we feel better after the session, if we have habits of stooping and slouching we will return to the same old pattern that caused the problem in the first place. The answer is to change our posture long term. If we have good balance most of the time, our musculature will find it far easier to maintain upright poise. As soon as we get off balance and slouch then we're struggling.
A great help can be to lie on the floor in semi-supine position for 10 minutes or so. Do this daily. When we are working at the desk, try and think of sitting tall. Don't 'pull' yourself up straight, but think of being tall. Your shoulders should ideally be over your hips and your head over your shoulders. This would be reasonably upright. Of course you can lean forwards when you want, but don't get 'stuck' there. Always return to 'upright' poise.
Free your neck as best you can. This is helped by 'thinking' it free. Your head is balancing on the top of your spine at a point between your ears. This balancing point is remarkably high. Think of your head teetering. Neck tension nearly always results in your head being pulled backwards, so let your head roll forwards slightly to release this tension i.e. drop your nose by a few millimetres. In Alexander Technique we would firstly free our neck then 'think' or 'send' our head forward and upwards so we are lengthening while remaining free at the same time.
If you are working at a desk, get up regularly to move around, fetch a glass of water, collect or deliver something. Don't get stuck by moving every 30 minutes or so. You can move your shoulders in circular movements and twist your neck gently. This is nothing to do with Alexander Technique, but the movement will help to release chronically tight muscles.
In the natural world we should all be very free in our joints, expansive in stature and in balance. These are the prerequisites for being healthily poised in relation to gravity while standing on two feet. Indeed it's how all vertebrates are; free, expansive and in balance. The Alexander Technique is a practical method for regaining the same quality and we use the technique consciously in order to overcome postural habits. Our habits are automatic, so we need to take more conscious control in order to overcome them.
By improving your posture so that you are freer, more upright and expansive and in balance, you will also improve your breathing, clarity of thought, calmness in stressful situations and also have more commanding stature.
So if you do suffer from back ache, there is really a lot that you can do. If you attend to the root causes of the problems, then you won't get the painful symptoms and you'll deal with the situation long term and avoid deterioration. There is lots of potential, lots of room for improvement, lots you can do. Think loose and forward and up with your head. If you're interested in finding out more about the Alexander Technique there is a lot of information on my site and links to societies of AT teachers world wide.
