Could stress be at the root of your pain? For many dealing with chronic pain, a compelling body of research suggests that stress might play a central role. Chronic pain, it appears, creates a sustained stress response that only intensifies the cycle—stress fuels pain, pain fuels stress, and round it goes.
A recent study uncovered a significant finding: patients with chronic back pain had consistently higher levels of cortisol (our body’s primary stress hormone) than healthy individuals. This aligns with emerging perspectives in neuroscience that the limbic system—the brain’s hub for emotion, motivation, and response to threats—is a key player in this pain-stress loop. Essentially, “managing stress” may be more crucial to pain relief than we previously thought.
This is where the Alexander Technique offers unique insight and relief for many chronic pain sufferers. Through Alexander lessons, students explore their own habitual responses to stress (often called the fight/flight/freeze response). You may have come across this term before, perhaps in biology class or an article. This stress response is familiar to us all; think of the “deer in headlights” image—the animal freezes, then bolts. In humans, however, we often don’t “fight or fly” in response to stress. Instead, we brace. We compress, often without even realising it. Imagine running late, in an argument, or delivering a speech; notice what happens to your neck, shoulders, and back. Often, tension builds, pulling the head downward, compressing the spine. It’s a protective response that has become all too familiar.
In an Alexander Technique session, you and your teacher gently bring awareness to these stress patterns, especially in your head, neck, and back. The Alexander Technique doesn’t simply aim to fix postural habits; rather, it seeks to help you recognize and release tension in real time. As these habitual responses come into focus, you’re given a new skillset to interrupt and soften the patterns of compression that build up through daily stress. Instead of hunkering down, you learn to expand, to open, and to allow the natural length of your spine to emerge.
By approaching chronic pain from both angles—awareness of your stress response and gentle release of muscular tension—the Alexander Technique offers a path toward relief that doesn’t fight pain but rather untangles its sources. Through this, you may find that habitual pain lessens and that you feel empowered to face stress without bracing against it.
Does pain sometimes feel like a cave you can’t quite step out of? Through the Alexander Technique, you can gently explore and unravel the patterns within yourself that may be quietly keeping you there.