The Feldenkrais Method & Arthritis
The Feldenkrais Method can help reduce some of the pain experienced by people with arthritis, and is often recommended for those whose movement has become limited by injury or chronic pain. It can help older adults regain greater range of motion and flexibility — and can help any of us feel more at ease in our own bodies.
Many people with arthritis struggle with exercise, even while knowing how important it is to stay active. On one hand, continued movement is essential for joint health; on the other, most conventional exercise activities cause pain and discomfort. How can anyone enjoy something that worsens their symptoms instead of improving them?
The Feldenkrais Method is a refined form of sensory and movement education that engages the brain to improve the body's comfort and function. It's of particular interest to people with arthritis precisely because it's so different from other forms of exercise. While conventional exercise often involves repeating effortful movements, Feldenkrais takes a different approach: its movements involve no stretching or strain, and require the least possible muscular effort. These are slow, easy movements, designed to engage the brain's capacity for change (neuroplasticity), improving the neuromuscular and skeletal organization of the body.
Safe and easy movement
The Feldenkrais Method doesn't resemble conventional forms of exercise and works on entirely different principles — it improves how the brain coordinates posture and movement. By engaging the brain's ongoing capacity to learn and change, Feldenkrais improves the exchange of information between the nervous system and the muscles, making movement more comfortable. Although its exercises aren't aerobic, they offer many of the benefits of exercise: production of synovial fluid (which lubricates the joints), increased flexibility, better circulation, improved breathing, better coordination and balance, and an overall sense of wellbeing.
For people with arthritis, the Feldenkrais Method can help reduce friction, swelling, and inflammation in the joints, and can help break cycles of pain and tension. And once someone regains the ability to move more comfortably, they may be able to return to more vigorous, muscle-strengthening exercise as well.
In one study, 21 people with rheumatoid arthritis took part in a series of Feldenkrais lessons. Participants experienced significant improvement in muscular activity and a reduction in the perceived effort needed for certain movements. Two years later, at follow-up, a large proportion of participants were still using the skills they had gained — and reported that the method had taught them new ways to reduce pain and discomfort before rheumatoid arthritis progressed to permanent deformity and disability.
Improved organization
Over the years, we all develop habits in how we hold, carry, and move ourselves. Some of these postural and movement habits can be physically intense or straining, and can limit freedom of movement — often without our even realizing it. We don't recognize that we have choices.
If you have arthritis, improving your neural and musculoskeletal organization may make a real difference. When the skeleton is well-aligned, you can use it more effectively, since physical forces travel through the joints in a smoother, more comfortable, and less damaging way. Better organization can also help protect joint health by reducing wear, friction, and inflammation. Through carefully designed combinations of simple movements, Feldenkrais lessons offer a detailed sensory-motor learning experience — similar to what a baby experiences when first learning to move. Feldenkrais movements give the nervous system the chance to try out and choose better options for how the body moves. And as you learn to move in a more efficient, ergonomic way, you gain greater flexibility, better posture, and pain-free movement.
Reducing muscular tension
Most people share a common reaction to pain: the nervous system, in trying to protect an injured area, restricts movement there. Although arthritis isn't an injury, the nervous system reacts to it in a similar way — as it would to a broken arm or leg — sending signals to the muscles in that area to contract, in an attempt to prevent movement. While this is a natural and useful reflex, for people with arthritis it can have negative effects: restricted movement, and excessive, prolonged muscular tension that feeds cycles of tension, pain, and loss of function.
Research has shown that when pain persists for a significant period, certain neural pathways become hypersensitive, giving the sensation and perception of pain a self-sustaining, ongoing quality. The Feldenkrais Method can help interrupt these cycles of pain and tension by reducing the neural link between pain and muscular contraction. Reduced muscular tension gives the nervous system and the muscles the chance to find balance again.
Margaret Fletcher MD, a retired surgeon and former representative and educator for the Arthritis Foundation, said:
"...the Feldenkrais Method completely changed the way I see myself, especially in relation to pain. Physically, I went from a wheelchair to walking nearly two miles almost every day. Almost all my mental energy used to be spent on living with and managing pain — now I've gained physical and mental freedom. I discovered abilities I didn't know I had…"
Another particular benefit is that, through Feldenkrais lessons, a student's kinesthetic perception and postural awareness gradually become clearer. This is especially useful during acute arthritis flare-ups, since a person can benefit from the Feldenkrais Method without even moving — simply imagining the movements can produce a sense of improvement as if they had actually performed them. Researchers have found that (for specific movements) the same neural pathway networks are activated whether a person performs a movement or simply visualizes performing it. Imagining pain-free movement helps calm the nervous system and reduces the direct association between movement and pain in the brain.
In a study of a group of adults with chronic pain, some participants took part in a six-week Feldenkrais program. Those who took part saw significant improvement in mobility and a significant reduction in pain, both immediately after the program and one year later. Researchers also observed reduced anxiety and an increased capacity for relaxation among participants. The success of the Feldenkrais Method in reducing chronic pain may well be applicable to people with arthritis too.
Improved mood and wellbeing
When physical difficulty goes unaddressed, it takes a toll on a person's psychology and emotional state. Pain is exhausting, and it affects patients by narrowing their sense of what's possible.
The improved sense of posture and movement that the Feldenkrais Method offers changes mood and brings a sense of wellbeing. With a positive, empowering approach, the Feldenkrais Method gives people with any type of arthritis an opportunity to focus on their abilities rather than their difficulties or limitations.
How to get started
The Feldenkrais Method is offered in two forms: movement lessons you do yourself (Awareness Through Movement — ATM) and individual lessons through hands-on contact with a practitioner (Functional Integration — FI).
ATM lessons are usually done lying on the floor or seated in a chair — they can be done in group classes with a teacher (at a school or at home), or by following instructions from books and recordings. Individual FI lessons are only given by teachers who have completed the four-year Feldenkrais practitioner training program.
Both forms of the method are suitable for all ages and abilities. When starting out, you can choose either group or individual lessons — look into what's offered in your city.
For Athens: individual and group sessions with Mariela Nestora, certified Feldenkrais practitioner, at feldenkraiscenter.org
source article - David Zemach-Bersin and Mark Hirschfield of the Feldenkrais Institute of New York
Many people with arthritis struggle with exercise, even while knowing how important it is to stay active. On one hand, continued movement is essential for joint health; on the other, most conventional exercise activities cause pain and discomfort. How can anyone enjoy something that worsens their symptoms instead of improving them?
The Feldenkrais Method is a refined form of sensory and movement education that engages the brain to improve the body's comfort and function. It's of particular interest to people with arthritis precisely because it's so different from other forms of exercise. While conventional exercise often involves repeating effortful movements, Feldenkrais takes a different approach: its movements involve no stretching or strain, and require the least possible muscular effort. These are slow, easy movements, designed to engage the brain's capacity for change (neuroplasticity), improving the neuromuscular and skeletal organization of the body.
Safe and easy movement
The Feldenkrais Method doesn't resemble conventional forms of exercise and works on entirely different principles — it improves how the brain coordinates posture and movement. By engaging the brain's ongoing capacity to learn and change, Feldenkrais improves the exchange of information between the nervous system and the muscles, making movement more comfortable. Although its exercises aren't aerobic, they offer many of the benefits of exercise: production of synovial fluid (which lubricates the joints), increased flexibility, better circulation, improved breathing, better coordination and balance, and an overall sense of wellbeing.
For people with arthritis, the Feldenkrais Method can help reduce friction, swelling, and inflammation in the joints, and can help break cycles of pain and tension. And once someone regains the ability to move more comfortably, they may be able to return to more vigorous, muscle-strengthening exercise as well.
In one study, 21 people with rheumatoid arthritis took part in a series of Feldenkrais lessons. Participants experienced significant improvement in muscular activity and a reduction in the perceived effort needed for certain movements. Two years later, at follow-up, a large proportion of participants were still using the skills they had gained — and reported that the method had taught them new ways to reduce pain and discomfort before rheumatoid arthritis progressed to permanent deformity and disability.
Improved organization
Over the years, we all develop habits in how we hold, carry, and move ourselves. Some of these postural and movement habits can be physically intense or straining, and can limit freedom of movement — often without our even realizing it. We don't recognize that we have choices.
If you have arthritis, improving your neural and musculoskeletal organization may make a real difference. When the skeleton is well-aligned, you can use it more effectively, since physical forces travel through the joints in a smoother, more comfortable, and less damaging way. Better organization can also help protect joint health by reducing wear, friction, and inflammation. Through carefully designed combinations of simple movements, Feldenkrais lessons offer a detailed sensory-motor learning experience — similar to what a baby experiences when first learning to move. Feldenkrais movements give the nervous system the chance to try out and choose better options for how the body moves. And as you learn to move in a more efficient, ergonomic way, you gain greater flexibility, better posture, and pain-free movement.
Reducing muscular tension
Most people share a common reaction to pain: the nervous system, in trying to protect an injured area, restricts movement there. Although arthritis isn't an injury, the nervous system reacts to it in a similar way — as it would to a broken arm or leg — sending signals to the muscles in that area to contract, in an attempt to prevent movement. While this is a natural and useful reflex, for people with arthritis it can have negative effects: restricted movement, and excessive, prolonged muscular tension that feeds cycles of tension, pain, and loss of function.
Research has shown that when pain persists for a significant period, certain neural pathways become hypersensitive, giving the sensation and perception of pain a self-sustaining, ongoing quality. The Feldenkrais Method can help interrupt these cycles of pain and tension by reducing the neural link between pain and muscular contraction. Reduced muscular tension gives the nervous system and the muscles the chance to find balance again.
Margaret Fletcher MD, a retired surgeon and former representative and educator for the Arthritis Foundation, said:
"...the Feldenkrais Method completely changed the way I see myself, especially in relation to pain. Physically, I went from a wheelchair to walking nearly two miles almost every day. Almost all my mental energy used to be spent on living with and managing pain — now I've gained physical and mental freedom. I discovered abilities I didn't know I had…"
Another particular benefit is that, through Feldenkrais lessons, a student's kinesthetic perception and postural awareness gradually become clearer. This is especially useful during acute arthritis flare-ups, since a person can benefit from the Feldenkrais Method without even moving — simply imagining the movements can produce a sense of improvement as if they had actually performed them. Researchers have found that (for specific movements) the same neural pathway networks are activated whether a person performs a movement or simply visualizes performing it. Imagining pain-free movement helps calm the nervous system and reduces the direct association between movement and pain in the brain.
In a study of a group of adults with chronic pain, some participants took part in a six-week Feldenkrais program. Those who took part saw significant improvement in mobility and a significant reduction in pain, both immediately after the program and one year later. Researchers also observed reduced anxiety and an increased capacity for relaxation among participants. The success of the Feldenkrais Method in reducing chronic pain may well be applicable to people with arthritis too.
Improved mood and wellbeing
When physical difficulty goes unaddressed, it takes a toll on a person's psychology and emotional state. Pain is exhausting, and it affects patients by narrowing their sense of what's possible.
The improved sense of posture and movement that the Feldenkrais Method offers changes mood and brings a sense of wellbeing. With a positive, empowering approach, the Feldenkrais Method gives people with any type of arthritis an opportunity to focus on their abilities rather than their difficulties or limitations.
How to get started
The Feldenkrais Method is offered in two forms: movement lessons you do yourself (Awareness Through Movement — ATM) and individual lessons through hands-on contact with a practitioner (Functional Integration — FI).
ATM lessons are usually done lying on the floor or seated in a chair — they can be done in group classes with a teacher (at a school or at home), or by following instructions from books and recordings. Individual FI lessons are only given by teachers who have completed the four-year Feldenkrais practitioner training program.
Both forms of the method are suitable for all ages and abilities. When starting out, you can choose either group or individual lessons — look into what's offered in your city.
For Athens: individual and group sessions with Mariela Nestora, certified Feldenkrais practitioner, at feldenkraiscenter.org
source article - David Zemach-Bersin and Mark Hirschfield of the Feldenkrais Institute of New York
