Your Body Don’t get the hump!
D
uring my long career teaching the Alexander Technique, I’ve come across the condition known as, ‘Dowager’s Hump’, on many occasions. This seems to be more prevalent in women, possibly due to the female form being more susceptible. In later years, Dowager’s Hump can be exacerbated by vertebral fractures due to osteoporosis. The condition is not only deemed to be unflattering, but is also the cause of pain, discomfort and disease in later life. The Alexander Technique is a unique self-help method of facilitating health through good habitual use of the body. We humans, with our bigger brains, are able to consciously choose how to use our skeletons in an optimum way. This radically improves the quality of our lives. The problem is that we often remain unaware of this capability, which allows conditions to deteriorate, without any proper means of alleviating them. If you begin to perceive an increasing curve at the top of your back, the good news is that you can learn to arrest the pattern, and start to feel and look better.
tiresome, and don’t actually get to the root of the problem – which is, the way that you carry your head around day in and day out. Just a few lessons in the technique helps to reeducate your body, and potentially makes a massive difference to your life. Osteoporosis is a metabolism-related skeletal disease, also known as “bone loss,” where the bones lose both density and stability. Fractures are particularly common in the femur and spine. Learning the Alexander Technique as soon as possible, helps to reduce this likelihood. Richard Marsden
The brain weighs about three pounds. Then there is the skull, the eyes, the teeth, the facial muscles and the skin. In all, an adult head weighs around ten or eleven pounds, equivalent to about four or five bags of sugar. Stop for a moment to consider this. If you don’t carry this weight around in an efficient, natural way, your spine is going to feel the pressure, and you’re going to develop exaggerated curves in your back. Even when there is a genetic link to your emerging hump, the Alexander Technique still applies. Unfortunately, remedial exercises tend to be ineffective, as they often become 40
Roots of Life Wellness Magazine www.therootsoflife.co.uk
