Jacobson's Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a non-pharmacological method of deep muscle relaxation, based on the premise that muscle tension is the body’s psychological response to anxiety-provoking thoughts and that muscle relaxation blocks anxiety. The technique involves learning to monitor the tension in specific muscle groups by first tensing each muscle group. This tension is then released, as attention is directed towards the differences felt during tension and relaxation.

It was developed by American physician Edmund Jacobson and presented first in 1908 at Harvard University. In 1929, Jacobson published the book “Progressive Relaxation”, which included a detailed procedure for removing muscular tension. His work led to the use of the word "relax", in the sense of "to become less tense, anxious or stressed, to calm down".He continued to work on this topic throughout his life and wrote several books about it.

These learning sessions are not exercises or self-hypnosis. Training sessions are conducted in a darkened room with the learner in a reclined position and eyes closed. The instructions begin by telling the person to relax and just let go, detaching from thoughts or physical distractions or trying to solve problems. In each session the teacher reviews tensing one particular muscle group. A modification of the technique is "biofeedback" in which one uses external measuring devices to indicate how successful one is in relaxing and then to use those techniques to relax without the help of external measuring devices. Progressive muscle relaxation is suggested to be applied daily. The technique has its own top-down sequence, beginning with the upper body and proceeding to the lower parts.Typically, the duration of a course is eight weeks, with each weekly session each lasting an hour or so. Progressive muscle relaxation technique requires a high degree of personal motivation, as the effects are often seen only after prolonged sessions. Before starting a course it might be recommended to consult with a doctor in order to ensure special care and attention is paid to selected muscle groups, as well as to obtain a recommendation on the ideal course. Jacobson's progressive relaxation has remained popular with modern physical therapists. Although many institutions and individuals offer progressive muscle relaxation training, what they teach is not standardized, and no credentialing process is available for progressive muscle relaxation technique instructors.

There are two general purposes of tension control: prophylactic and therapeutic.

Nowadays, non-pharmacological treatment of insomnia has become an alternative replacement or complement to routine medical care. Progressive muscle relaxation is used as a treatment for some causes of insomnia. They are meant to reduce physical tension and interrupt the racing thought processes that affect sleep. A common psychological problem of cancer patients and particularly for those in pain is insomnia. Some studies reported benefits of the Progressive muscle relaxation technique used by cancer patients. One of them postulated: “the significant effect for the muscle relaxation group on the sleep onset latency indicates that the subjects’ self-reported insomnia was significantly improved. Total sleep time was increased as well”.

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