Feldenkrais Method™ and Chronic Back Pain

Chronic Back Pain

Trying the Feldenkrais Method for Chronic Pain

NY Times Oct 30, 2017

Jane E. Brody

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/well/trying-the-feldenkrais-method-for-chronic-pain.html?referer=http://m.facebook.com

The Feldenkrais method is one of several increasingly popular movement techniques … that attempt to better integrate the connections between mind and body. By becoming aware of how one’s body interacts with its surroundings and learning how to behave in less stressful ways, it becomes possible to relinquish habitual movement patterns that cause or contribute to chronic pain.

Even after just one session . . When I make a point of walking upright and fluid, sitting straight . . . I have no pain. The slow, gentle, repetitive movements I practiced in a Feldenkrais group class helped foster an awareness of how I use my body in relation to my environment, and awareness is the first step to changing one’s behavior.

Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin

https://www.cathrynjakobsonramin.com/books/crooked/overview/

The Feldenkrais Method is a postural approach that, by employing exercises in movement and encouraging the mind to reconnect with the body, helps individuals restore better physical function.

Feldenkrais uses body awareness movements to reduce pain and improve mobility. Reduce pain and improve movement with mindfulness, yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, mindful movement online ATM classes in Feldenkrais Toronto, Durham Region, Clarington. Treat whiplash, stiffness for pain free range of motion. Manage arthritic joint and back pain, fibromyalgia, knee and hip replacement, improve balance, vision, mobility with osteoporosis, arthritis or neurological disorders. Sue Seto offers gentle, easy ATM classes to improve recovery from injury, scoliosis or surgery, walking better, fall prevention. Online Feldenkrais Method classes and workshops reduce pain, improve balance and mobility. Free class recordings. Manage and treat stroke symptoms, neurological movement disorders, depression, reduce anxiety and eating disorders. Better performance in sports, arts, theatre, dance, music. Good posture, walking, hiking, tennis, golf, gardening, skiing. Feel better. Somatic movement exercises .

Feldenkrais Method Empowers Adults With Chronic Back Pain

Holistic Nursing Practice May/June 2014, Volume :28 Number 3 , page 171 - 183

Pugh, JD

http://www.nursingcenter.com/journalarticle?Article_ID=2435558

A phenomenological approach was used to explore the experiences of 11 adults attending Awareness Through Movement lessons in the Feldenkrais Method to manage chronic-episodic back pain. Semistructured interviews were analyzed. The results suggest improving self-efficacy through somatic education and awareness potentially offers a way forward given the back pain epidemic.

Somatic education to manage chronic back pain. Reduce chronic pain and headaches with Feldenkrais Method movement classes, workshops, mindfulness, yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, martial arts, judo, somatic education. Feldenkrais Toronto, Durham Region, Clarington. Online free classes and recordings. Walk better, move smoothly, effectively, play tennis and golf. Reduce pain and improve movement naturally at home online, fast, easily and gently. Improve mobility from arthritis, osteoporosis, scoliosis, joint pain, joint replacement, fibromyalgia, poor posture, injuries, surgery. Feel better, reduce back pain, improve vision, hip pain and knee pain. Freeing neck and shoulders for whiplash, pain free range of motion, stiffness. Manage and treat stroke symptoms, neurological movement disorders, depression, reduce anxiety and eating disorders. Somatic movement exercises to retrain nervous system, enhancing a person’s self-body image. Get up and down. Better movement in ankles, feet and shoulder.

Feldenkrais method on neck and low back pain to the type of exercises and outcome measurement tools: A systematic review

Polish Annals of Medicine, November 2016

Vikram Mohan - Universiti Teknologi MARA, Aatit Paungmali - Chiang Mai University, Patraporn Sitilertpisan, Leonard Joseph,

http://www.paom.pl/images/jurnal/2017/no1/Feldenkrais-method-on-neck-and-low-back-pain-to-the-type-o_2017_Polish-Annal.pdf

Introduction: Feldenkrais method (FM) has been applied on a large number of people as an educational method to create awareness of themselves and of their own body postures. ... Aim: This review aimed at determining the effect, type of exercises, duration and the outcome measure utilized in assessing the FM among individuals with neck and low back pain (LBP). ... The review also determined type of exercises and outcome utilized in assessing the benefit of FM. Conclusions: Overall, judging from the increasing number of articles in recent years related to FM, this review reports sufficient evidence that FM is increasingly being used in the management of neck pain and LBP.

Reduce and manage neck pain and lower back pain. Sue Seto works in Feldenkrais Toronto, Durham Region, Clarington with osteoporosis, arthritis, hip knee joint replacement, fibromyalgia, pelvic floor issues concerns, vision, eyes and balance concerns. Online Feldenkrais Method movement classes to reduce pain, improve movement and mobility for fall prevention to stop falling. Workshops to free neck and shoulders to help with whiplash, arthritic joint and back pain to increase range of motion and stiffness. Reduce back pain, hip pain and knee pain leading to better walking and better posture to feel better. Improve judo, martial arts, Qi Gong and Tai Chi. Free class recordings. Better movement in ankles, feet and shoulder pain for better driving. Manage and treat stroke symptoms, neurological issues movement disorders, depression, reduce anxiety and eating disorders. Better balance improves golf, walking, pickleball, fencing, basketball, skiing, skating, hiking, swimming, sitting.

BODY SCHEMA ACUITY TRAINING AND FELDENKRAIS® MOVEMENTS COMPARED TO CORE STABILIZATION BIOFEEDBACK AND MOTOR CONTROL EXERCISES: COMPARATIVE EFFECTS ON CHRONIC NON-SPECIFIC LOW BACK PAIN IN AN OUTPATIENT CLINICAL SETTING

A dissertation presented to the Faculty of Saybrook University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Psychology

Timothy J. Sobie

Available on ProQuest November 2016

https://search.proquest.com/openview/a2aa904284ec0433283021ce1775a3fa/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y

Back problems continue to be a leading cause for disability in all of medicine and are the number one symptom disorder for consulting integrative medicine practitioners. Feldenkrais® practitioners aim to clarify new functional interrelationships towards an improved neuroplasticity-based change in the cognitive construct of one’s own background body schema. These phenomena have been found to clinically correlate to chronic pain through concurrent distortions in the reorganization of usual sensory-motor cortical representations in the brain – being further associated with altered body perception (Wand et al., 2016). The Feldenkrais Method® (FM) is a comprehensive approach being manifested through manual sensory contact (FI®) techniques and movement experiences (ATM®) and has been anecdotally purported to improve symptoms and functions in chronic non-specific low back pain (CNSLBP). However, there is little scientific evidence to support superior treatment efficacy.

The effect of the Feldenkrais method on pain and anxiety in people experiencing chronic low back pain

New Zealand Journal of Physiotherapy, 29(1): 6-14. 2001

Smith, A. L.; Kolt, Gregory S.; McConville, J.C.

http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/latrobe:6935

The aim of this pilot investigation was to evaluate the Feldenkrais Method's effect on pain and state anxiety in people experiencing chronic low back pain. ... The Feldenkrais group experienced a 30-minute Awareness Through Movement session whilst the control group listened to a narrative of the same duration. ... Multivariate Analyses of Variance showed that the Feldenkrais intervention was effective in reducing the affective dimension of pain (p < .05), but not the sensory or evaluative dimensions, nor state anxiety. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research and some of the theoretical concepts assumed to underlie the Feldenkrais Method. The clinical implication of the findings involves the potential for the Feldenkrais Method to complement existing modes of pain management for people experiencing chronic low back problems.

Pain management in chronic low back problems. Reduce pain and improve movement with mindfulness, yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, mindful movement online ATM classes in Feldenkrais Toronto, Durham Region, Clarington. Treat whiplash, stiffness for pain free range of motion. Manage arthritic joint and back pain, fibromyalgia, knee and hip replacement, improve balance, vision, mobility with osteoporosis, arthritis or neurological disorders. Sue Seto offers gentle, easy ATM classes to improve recovery from injury, scoliosis or surgery, walking better, fall prevention. Online Feldenkrais Method classes and workshops reduce pain, improve balance and mobility. Free class recordings. Manage and treat stroke symptoms, neurological movement disorders, depression, reduce anxiety and eating disorders. Better performance in sports, arts, theatre, dance, music. Somatic movement exercises to retrain nervous system, enhancing a person’s self-body image. Better movement in ankles, feet and shoulder pain.

Body Schema and Feldenkrais®: Effects Upon Subjects With Low Back Pain

Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 2013

Timothy J Sobie, Alliant Physical Therapy & Integral Medicine, PLLC

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269749015_P0303_Body_Schema_and_FeldenkraisR_Effects_Upon_Subjects_With_Low_Back_Pain

Back problems continue to be the number one symptom disorder for consulting complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners. Neuroscience continues to indicate that the human brain undergoes a process of somato-topic cortical reorganization in association with sustained states of chronic pain. Feldenkrais® practitioners aim to create individualized multimodal learning experiences that are believed to clarify an improved neuroplasticity-based change in the cognitive construct of one's own body schema. ... All subjects had a more balanced gait. Conclusions: Body schema–based somatic education interventions, like the Feldenkrais® method, deserve further investigation and do not appear to rely on treating the anatomical regions of perceived involvement directly.

Somatic education to manage chronic low back pain. Reduce chronic pain and headaches with Feldenkrais Method movement classes, workshops, mindfulness, yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, martial arts, judo, somatic education. Feldenkrais Toronto, Durham Region, Clarington. Online free classes and recordings. Walk better, move smoothly, effectively, play tennis and golf. Reduce pain and improve movement naturally at home online, fast, easily and gently. Improve mobility from arthritis, osteoporosis, scoliosis, joint pain, joint replacement, fibromyalgia, poor posture, injuries, surgery. Feel better, reduce back pain, improve vision, hip pain and knee pain. Freeing neck and shoulders for whiplash, pain free range of motion, stiffness. Similar to Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Massage, Physical Therapy, Rolfing, Alexander Technique, Acupuncture, Cranial Sacral, Eccentrics, Qi Gong, Facia, Biomechanics. Manage and treat stroke symptoms, neurological movement disorders, depression, reduce anxiety and stress

Self-reported interoceptive awareness in primary care patients with past or current low back pain

Journal of Pain Research · May 2013

Jennifer Daubenmier, University of California, San Francisco; Cynthia Price, University of Washington, Seattle;

Elizabeth Bartmess, University of California, San Francisco, Anita L Stewart, University of California, San Francisco

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elizabeth_Bartmess/publication/237839770_Self-reported_interoceptive_awareness_in_primary_care_patients_with_past_or_current_low_back_pain/links/0046351ca5987b73e9000000/Self-reported-interoceptive-awareness-in-primary-care-patients-with-past-or-current-low-back-pain.pdf

Mind-body interactions play a major role in the prognosis of chronic pain, and mind-body therapies such as meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, and Feldenkrais presumably provide benefits for pain patients. The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) scales, designed to measure key aspects of mind-body interaction, were developed and validated with individuals practicing mind-body therapies, but have never been used in pain patients. ... Cross-sectional comparison between the two groups showed marked differences in eight aspects of interoceptive awareness. ...Self-reported aspects of interoceptive awareness differ between primary care patients with past or current low back pain and mind-body trained individuals, suggesting further research is warranted on the question whether mind-body therapies can alter interoceptive attentional styles with pain.

A Three-Paradigm Treatment Model Using Soft Tissue Mobilization and Guided Movement Awareness Techniques for a Patient With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Case Study

Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, September 1997

Cottingham JT, Maitland J.

http://www.jospt.org/doi/pdf/10.2519/jospt.1997.26.3.155?code=jospt-site

It is not uncommon for physical therapists to report difficulty in treating certain subjects with chronic idiopathic low back pain. The purpose of this case study is to present a three-paradigm model of intervention that may be adapted to the treatment of such cases. The model consists of: 1) relaxation paradigm, consisting of pain modulation procedures; 2) corrective paradigm, involving manual techniques and exercise to correct specific faulty biomechanical alignment(s) eg., pelvic asymmetry); and 3) integrative paradigm, utilizing guided movement/mobilization techniques for improving the subject's overall pattern of posture and movement.

Guided movement to improve posture and movement. Online classes for slow, gentle lessons. Feldenkrais neuro movements rewire brain to reduce chronic pain, back pain, knee and hip joint replacement, improves balance, pelvic floor and prevent falls, neurological disorders and improve movement, fibromyalgia, walking, hiking. ATM and private classes help swimming, dancing, musicians. Feldenkrais Toronto, Durham Region, Clarington. Reduce pain, improve movement, balance and mobility for fall prevention. Classes and workshops improve mobility, reduce neck and shoulder pain with free class recordings. Manage and treat stroke symptoms, neurological movement disorders, depression, reduce anxiety and eating disorders. Somatic movement exercises retrain nervous system, enhancing a person’s self-body image. Reducing curves in the back caused by scoliosis, Osteoporosis, arthritis, injury. Feldenkrais Method corrects bad posture. Feel better. Treat whiplash, stiffness for pain free range of motion.

Wide Dimensions to Yoga Therapy: Comparative Approaches from Viniyoga, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, and the Feldenkrais Method®

International Journal of Yoga Therapy: 2002, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 25-38.

John Kepner (Viniyoga), Victoria Strohmeyer (Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy), Staffan Elgelid (Feldenkrais Method)

http://iaytjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.17761/ijyt.12.1.j227mkq47610l713

Three well-known but very different mind/body methodologies for working with individuals are presented in a common framework consisting of: definition, methodology, case studies, and credentialing requirements. Chronic lower back pain is the presenting symptom considered by all three. ... To promote understanding of divergent views, we believe it is instructive to present a set of short, complementary case studies that provide a common framework with which to begin to compare and contrast how therapists from different perspectives are actually working today.3 Feldenkrais® is not Yoga, but from the hazy focus on complementary and alternative therapies by many medical institutions today, it appears to be a similar mind/body intervention, and the teaching methodology itself may offer insight to Yoga teachers working one-on-one with clients.

Similar to yoga and uses mind body awareness and intervention. Reduce pain and improve movement with mindfulness, yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, mindful movement online ATM classes in Feldenkrais Toronto, Durham Region, Clarington. Treat whiplash, stiffness for pain free range of motion. Manage arthritic joint and back pain, fibromyalgia, knee and hip replacement, improve balance, vision, mobility with osteoporosis, arthritis or neurological disorders. Sue Seto offers gentle, easy ATM classes to improve recovery from injury, scoliosis or surgery, walking better, fall prevention. Online Feldenkrais Method classes and workshops reduce pain, improve balance and mobility. Free class recordings. Manage and treat stroke symptoms, neurological movement disorders, depression, reduce anxiety and eating disorders. Better movement in ankles, feet and shoulder pain for driving. Better performance in sports, arts, theatre, dance, music. Good posture, walking, hiking, tennis, golf, gardening, skiing.

A different way to relieve years of back pain

The Washington Post, September 27, 2018

Lisa Rein

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-different-way-to-relieve-years-of-back-pain/2018/09/27/f3e663f4-b505-11e8-a2c5-3187f427e253_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1d78d8165d25

In my first Feldenkrais class, we lay on our backs with eyes closed and drifted our eyeballs left to right and back again. We shifted our heads from side to side as our eyes followed in their sockets. Then we changed it up, moving our eyes in the opposite direction from our heads.

This may sound like a simple sequence. It’s deceptively challenging. And it continued for an hour, with sitting variations, eyes alternately open and shut, a brain workout that included tracking our thumbs as our bent arms moved at eye level from left to right and back again.

These eye calisthenics were supposed to relieve my years of back pain. ... And at the end of that first class, I was surprised: I felt a little different, lighter. I could turn my neck a bit more to the left. My right hip moved more freely. ... as Moshé Feldenkrais ... writes in his book, “Awareness Through Movement,” “The eyes are not only for seeing.” Like shifting the shoulders, ankles, pelvis, spring and limbs in certain ways, exercising your eyes can improve the organization of the entire trunk, he writes, by moving in ways that are not habitual and make you aware of how other parts of your body respond. ... The brain, he maintained, can be retrained to reorganize the way we move our bodies, eliminating unnecessary and harmful patterns.

Retrains brain to reorganize how we move our bodies, eliminating harmful patterns. Reduce chronic pain and headaches with Feldenkrais Method movement classes, workshops, mindfulness, yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, martial arts, judo, somatic education. Feldenkrais Toronto, Durham Region, Clarington. Online free classes and recordings. Walk better, move smoothly, effectively, play tennis and golf. Reduce pain and improve movement naturally at home online, fast, easily and gently. Improve mobility from arthritis, osteoporosis, scoliosis, joint pain, joint replacement, fibromyalgia, poor posture, injuries, surgery. Feel better, reduce back pain, improve vision, hip pain and knee pain. Freeing neck and shoulders for whiplash, pain free range of motion, stiffness. Similar to Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Massage, Physical Therapy, Rolfing, Alexander Technique, Acupuncture, Cranial Sacral, Eccentrics, Qi Gong, Facia, Biomechanics. Manage and treat stroke symptoms, neurological movement disorders.

Improved interoceptive awareness in chronic low back pain: a comparison of Back school versus Feldenkrais method

Disability and Rehabilitation, Volume 39, 2017 - Issue 10

Teresa Paolucci, Federico Zangrando, Marco Iosa, Simona De Angelis, Caterina Marzoli, Giulia Piccinini & Vincenzo Maria Saraceni

Complex Unit of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Policlinico Umberto Hospital, Rome, Italy

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09638288.2016.1175035

To determine the efficacy of the Feldenkrais method for relieving pain in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and the improvement of interoceptive awareness. ... The efficacy of the Feldenkrais method is comparable with that of BS for nonspecific chronic low back pain. The physician can recommend a body–mind rehabilitation approach, such as the Feldenkrais method, or an educational and rehabilitation program, such as BS, to the patient, based on his individual needs. The 2 rehabilitation approaches are equally as effective in improving interoceptive awareness.

Mind body awareness helps to reduce chronic low back pain. Sue Seto works in Feldenkrais Toronto, Durham Region, Clarington with osteoporosis, arthritis, hip knee joint replacement, fibromyalgia, pelvic floor problems, vision, eyes and balance. Online movement classes to reduce pain, improve movement and mobility for fall prevention to stop falling. Workshops free neck, shoulders and stiffness to help with whiplash, arthritic joint and back pain to increase range of motion. Reduce back pain, hip pain and knee pain leading to better walking and better posture to feel better. Improve judo, martial arts, Qi Gong and Tai Chi. Better movement in ankles, feet and shoulder pain for better driving. Better balance improves golf, walking, pickleball, fencing, basketball, skiing, skating, hiking, swimming, sitting. Manage and treat stroke symptoms, neurological issues movement disorders, depression, reduce anxiety and eating disorders. Free class recordings. Somatic movement exercises.

Your Guide To Coping With Back Pain

McClelland and Stewart, 1985

Judylaine Fine

Chapter 23: The Feldenkrais Method: The Israeli Connection

Available from "The Internet Archive, a non-profit, providing free access to publications and internet material.

Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge. Free registration."

https://archive.org/details/yourguidetocopin0000fine

Manage and reduce chronic low back pain. Online classes for slow, gentle lessons. Feldenkrais neuro movements rewire brain to reduce chronic pain, back pain, knee and hip joint replacement, improves balance, pelvic floor and prevent falls, neurological disorders and improve movement, fibromyalgia, walking, hiking. ATM and private classes help swimming, dancing, musicians. Feldenkrais Toronto, Durham Region, Clarington. Reduce pain, improve movement, balance and mobility for fall prevention. Classes and workshops improve mobility, reduce neck and shoulder pain with free class recordings. Manage and treat stroke symptoms, neurological movement disorders, depression, reduce anxiety and eating disorders. Somatic movement exercises retrain nervous system, enhancing a person’s self-body image. Reducing curves in the back caused by scoliosis, Osteoporosis, arthritis, injury. Feldenkrais Method corrects bad posture. Feel better. Treat whiplash, stiffness for pain free range of motion.

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