Chronic neck pain? New study shows benefit of acupuncture and Alexander technique

Acupuncture or Alexander technique lessons could provide much needed relief to people with chronic neck pain, says research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Around 40% of adults will have chronic neck pain at some point in their lives, but now the first long-term study into the effectiveness of the Alexander technique and acupuncture shows that people who attended either of these over a four to five month period reported a noticeable improvement.

A total of 517 people with chronic neck pain were split into three groups and received either:
• Twenty 30-minute lessons in the Alexander technique;
• Twelve 50-minute sessions of acupuncture;
• Usual medical treatment.

“Patients with chronic conditions were found on average to have benefited from a single intervention: either Alexander technique lessons or acupuncture,” reports Dr Hugh MacPherson, who led the research. “This is the first trial that followed patients up at one year, well after the end of the intervention period, and provides new evidence that there are long-term benefits.”

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Image credit: paul stumpr