The Alexander Technique and Chronic Pain
How a major setback in my 20's changed my life
The story of how I ended up in my current profession started with chronic pain.
In 1989, I was 19 and a freshman at a small liberal arts college in Ohio. One evening, a bunch of friends and I decided to drive up to Cleveland. We didn’t make it. I was in the backseat of the car and we ended up rear-ending a pickup truck that had decided to turn right at the last minute from the left lane.
I remember being shaken up and perhaps a bit sore. But I didn’t have any obvious injuries. And I was not concerned enough with any symptoms or pain to go to a doctor and get checked out. I was fine for about three months. Then one day I began to have neck, upper back, and shoulder pain that wouldn’t go away.
Sometimes the pain felt like pins and needles. Other times it felt like a burning sensation. Often I just felt so fatigued, like I couldn’t hold my body up anymore. I went to the doctor and had loads of tests done, including an MRI. Nothing was apparently wrong. Some suggested it was all in my head.
The pain was always there on the inside. But I looked fine on the outside.
It became increasingly uncomfortable for me to sit or stand for more than 10 minutes at a stretch. I stopped…
