As a Person Living with Parkinson’s (PlwPD) you can learn how to begin applying Alexander-based strategies to help improve your balance and postural tone, and help prevent falls and freezing.

 

Although the Alexander Technique isn’t intended to reverse the underlying cause, it can greatly help to get the most out of the resources that are still available by teaching, through experience, how to move more efficiently and improve balance and coordination, as well as helping to manage anxiety.

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While dance or exercise programs offer satisfying and necessary periods of choreographed, aerobic or strengthening movement,  Alexander Technique works directly with cognition to teach new ways of thinking about organizing movement while carrying out exercise or during daily activities away from class.

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The School of Integrated Medicine, London University of Westminster, performed a randomized controlled trial of the Alexander Technique for idiopathic Parkinson’s disease which showed that Alexander lessons led to a significantly increased ability to carry out everyday activities compared with usual medical care. The trial also showed that the rate symptoms progressed was reduced as well the rate at which medication needed to be increased.​

 

Lessons involve verbal instructions and hands-on guidance to teach self-management strategies that improve and, as much as possible, restore functional movement patterns enabling the person with PD to carry out activities with greater confidence and minimal interference from PD symptoms.

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