Editing Alexander technique (section)

==Health effects==

The UK [[National Health Service]] says that advocates of the Alexander technique made claims for it that were not supported by evidence, but that there was evidence suggesting that it might help with chronic back or neck pain. According to the NHS, Alexander technique may be of benefit for people with [[Parkinson disease]].<ref name="NHS"/> The [[National Institute for Health and Care Excellence]] (NICE) guidelines state that people with [[Parkinson disease]] who are experiencing balance or motor function problems should consider the Alexander technique along with disease-specific physiotherapy.<ref name="Parkinson's disease in adults"/> There is limited evidence for chronic pain, stammering, and balance skills in older people. There was no good evidence of benefit for other conditions including [[asthma]], [[headache]]s, [[osteoarthritis]], [[insomnia|difficulty sleeping]], and stress.<ref name="NHS" />

A 2012 [[Cochrane (organisation)|Cochrane]] [[systematic review]] found that there is no good evidence that the Alexander technique is effective for treating asthma, and randomized clinical trials are needed in order to assess the effectiveness of this type of treatment approach.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dennis |first1=JA |last2=Cates |first2=CJ |date=12 September 2012 |title=Alexander technique for chronic asthma. |journal=The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews |volume=2016 |issue=9 |pages=CD000995 |doi=10.1002/14651858.CD000995.pub2 |pmc=6458000 |pmid=22972048}}</ref>

A review published in ''[[BioMed Central#Journals|BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine]]'' in 2014 focused on "the evidence for the effectiveness of AT sessions on musicians' performance, anxiety, respiratory function and posture" concluded that "evidence from RCTs and CTs suggests that AT sessions may improve performance anxiety in musicians. Effects on music performance, respiratory function and posture yet remain inconclusive."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Klein |first1=SD |last2=Bayard |first2=C |last3=Wolf |first3=U |date=24 October 2014 |title=The Alexander Technique and musicians: a systematic review of controlled trials. |journal=BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine |volume=14 |pages=414 |doi=10.1186/1472-6882-14-414 |pmc=4287507 |pmid=25344325 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

A 2015 review, conducted for the Australian Department of Health in order to determine what services the Australian government should pay for, examined clinical trials published to date and found that "overall, the evidence was limited by the small number of participants in the intervention arms, wide confidence intervals or a lack of replication of results."  It concluded that "the Alexander technique may improve short-term pain and disability in people with low back pain, but the longer-term effects remain uncertain. For all other clinical conditions, the effectiveness of the Alexander technique was deemed to be uncertain, due to insufficient evidence."  It also noted that "evidence for the safety of Alexander Technique was lacking, with most trials not reporting on this outcome."<ref name="aus17">{{Cite web |last=Baggoley C |year=2015 |title=Review of the Australian Government Rebate on Natural Therapies for Private Health Insurance |url=http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/0E9129B3574FCA53CA257BF0001ACD11/$File/Natural%20Therapies%20Overview%20Report%20Final%20with%20copyright%2011%20March.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160626024750/http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/0E9129B3574FCA53CA257BF0001ACD11/$File/Natural%20Therapies%20Overview%20Report%20Final%20with%20copyright%2011%20March.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2016 |access-date=12 December 2015 |publisher=Australian Government &ndash; Department of Health }}
*{{lay source |template=cite web |author=Gavura, S. |date=19 November 2015 |title=Australian review finds no benefit to 17 natural therapies |url=https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/australian-review-finds-no-benefit-to-17-natural-therapies |website=Science-Based Medicine}}</ref> Subsequently, in 2017, the Australian government named the Alexander technique as a practice that would not qualify for insurance subsidy, saying this step would "ensure taxpayer funds are expended appropriately and not directed to therapies lacking evidence".<ref name="nosubsidy">{{Cite journal |last=Paola S |date=17 October 2017 |title=Homeopathy, naturopathy struck off private insurance list |url=https://ajp.com.au/news/homeopathy-naturopathy-struck-off-private-insurance-list/ |url-status=live |journal=Australian Journal of Pharmacy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418235118/https://ajp.com.au/news/homeopathy-naturopathy-struck-off-private-insurance-list/ |archive-date=18 April 2021 |access-date=11 January 2018}}</ref>

A review by [[Aetna]] last updated in 2021 stated: "Aetna considers the following alternative medicine interventions experimental and investigational because there is inadequate evidence in the peer-reviewed published medical literature of their effectiveness." The Alexander technique is included in that list.<ref name="Aetna">{{Cite web |title=Medical Clinical Policy Bulletin Number 0388: Complementary and Alternative Medicine |url=http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/300_399/0388.html |access-date=1 December 2021 |publisher=Aetna}}</ref>