Alexander Technique

The Alexander Technique (AT), named after Frederick Matthias Alexander, is an educational process that develops the ability to realign posture and to avoid unnecessary muscular and mental tension. Alexander believed the individual's self-awareness could be inaccurate, resulting in unnecessary muscular tension such as when standing or sitting with body weight unevenly distributed, holding one's head incorrectly, walking or running inefficiently, and responding to stressful stimuli in an exaggerated way. Alexander said that those who habitually "misused" their muscles could not trust their feelings (sensory appreciation) when carrying out activities or responding to situations emotionally.

Alexander developed the technique's principles in the 1890s in an attempt to alleviate breathing problems and hoarseness during public speaking. He credited his method with allowing him to pursue his passion for acting in Shakespearean theater.

Some proponents of the Alexander Technique state that it has treatment potential for a variety of health conditions. However, as of 2013^[update], supporting medical evidence was of low to moderate quality and overall, the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique is uncertain because of insufficient evidence. There is evidence suggesting the Alexander Technique is helpful for long-term back pain, long-term neck pain, and may help people cope with Parkinson's disease, but little evidence that it helps any other medical conditions.

Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869–1955) was a Shakespearean orator who developed voice loss during his performances. After doctors found no physical cause, Alexander reasoned that he was inadvertently damaging himself while speaking to cause the problem. He observed himself in multiple mirrors and saw that he was contracting his posture prior to phonation in preparation for verbal responses. He hypothesized that a habitual pattern of pulling his head backwards and downwards needlessly disrupted the normal working of the total postural, breathing, and vocal mechanisms.

With experimentation, Alexander developed the ability to stop the unnecessary and habitual contracting in his neck, displacement of his head, and shortening of his stature, and found that his problem with recurrent voice loss was resolved. While on a recital tour in New Zealand (1895) he began to realise the wider significance of head carriage for overall physical functioning. Further, Alexander observed that many individuals commonly tightened their musculature in the same pattern as he had done, in anticipation of many other activities besides speech.

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