Jessica Locke

One of the most common complaints that arrive in my office is hip pain, sometimes accompanied by sciatica pain down either leg.  

And one of the most common reasons why this hip pain exists is because the student is collapsing into the pelvis.  The chest is down, the ribs are down – if you can imagine being slumped in a chair with all your muscle tissue collapsed on top of your hips, then try to picture that while walking, you have a general idea of what I mean by collapsing into the pelvis.  

The muscles and bones of the hips are designed to work in a state of tension, a system of pulleys and ropes.  (This state of tension exists throughout the entire body.)   If any of that tension is allowed to go slack, (or if the tension increases more than the muscle/joint can handle), the muscles can’t work as they know how to do.  Inflammation shows up, and the muscles contract even more against the pain, creating an endless cycle of more collapse and more pain in the joint.

The Alexander Technique teaches one how to lengthen throughout the entire muscular system, keeping the ropes and pulleys working with the least amount of effort.  Generally, I can take someone out of hip pain immediately once the student is shown this new coordination.  However, there is residual inflammation in the joint that takes a few days to dissipate.  

A week later, when the student returns and complains that the pain returned in 3-4 days, I show the student how he has returned to his old pattern of use, collapsing from above.  Once that is corrected repeatedly over a course of lessons, the pain usually disappears altogether.