Case History: Frozen Shoulder

Audrey T. came for lessons for general interest, having heard from a friend that the Alexander Technique is a 'good way to make life easier.' Lessons progressed in an easy fashion laying the foundation for the basic understanding of how we respond to a stimulus has a profound impact on how we are able to deal with it.

The changing perception gently lead to a state of mind and body that was much freer, and a sense that life is a kind process.

At about the eighth lesson, Audrey came in with something to report. The frozen shoulder she had had for some time but had learned to 'put up with' had suddenly spontaneously resolved. It had long passed its acute stage of extremely limited movement, but every day it affected Audrey, preventing her from easily doing simple tasks such as getting dressed.

She said with astonishment, "I had no idea this could ever improve, but one morning I was suddenly able to even reach round and easily undo my bra clasp!"

The doctors had told her she would need to learn to live with the problem.

This kind of outcome is not an uncommon occurrence within the Alexander Technique lessons. The stress/tension/habit pattern that people experience in life has been long under-estimated in its effect on people's overall functioning, and the usual cultural response to injuries such as frozen shoulder is to seek for forcing measures to, in effect, try to beat it into submission. As the forcing process is usually the foundation for tension induced disease, it's a bit like trying to put out a fire with liquid petroleum gas.

Next case history: Repetitive Strain Injury