Athletes and the Alexander Technique
Tight? Tense? Unbalanced? The Alexander Technique can help.
With the amount of physical impact and goal reaching an athlete attempts, it’s no surprise that most athletes exert more effort than they need to. And this over exertion often manifests itself through tightness and tension. This sort of pain is avoidable as athletes learn to improve the connection between their mind and body. The first step is to recognize tension and learn to release it as is occurs.
It’s a bit counter-intuitive for an athlete to learn the answer is to “try less”! The other challenge for athletes is to learn proper alignment of the body while they are in motion. But as athletes practice and learn, they will ironically find more athleticism.
Increased balance and coordination are common outcomes. Eventually athletes also find more strength as they learn to wake up and use muscles that may have lied dormant since they were a very small children.
Causes of Joint Pain in Athletes
Because athletes use their bodies more than the average person, they are obviously more susceptible to overuse and injury. Combine this with what what we know from the Alexander Technique (that most people also experience misuse of their bodies) and we have a recipe for disaster — if not probably pain at some level.
Joint pain is often caused by misalignments and poor habitual use of the body. The Alexander Technique is an effective way to wake up musculature and create a more symbiotic realationships between the parts of the body. This is done through awareness, proper alignment, and musculature conditioning.
Many people are effected by an athletic injury that follows them into their work life. Dr. James DiGiancinto was treated by Thom Lemens for chronic back pain that started as a result of a football injury. It became worse in his job as a periodontist, having to stand an lean over his patients. In his own words: “I literally limped into his office and was able to walk out.” Dr. DiGiancinto experiences significantly less pain as a result of learning the Alexander Technique with Thom.
Find the relief you’re looking for.
