A trial subject's perspective

doi:10.1136/bmj.b1059

Published 17 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1059
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1059

Letters

Alexander technique trial

A trial subject’s perspective

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

I was a subject in the ATEAM trial (randomised controlled trialof Alexander technique lessons, exercise, and massage).¹ Mytardy response is because I was told that subjects would beinformed of the study results. To date this has not happened:I found the paper only when a friend mentioned it to me.

In table 5, which gives the one year results, SF-36 "qualityof life mental" shows no effect. This seems to have been overlooked.It is desirable to reduce days of back pain, but until thisis zero there is the constant reminder of the underlying problem.Is it not this continual worry of exacerbation that is wearing,reduces activity, and leads to the low mental state?

The authors say that they used primary outcome measures thathave been well validated. Were the subjects used in the validationspecifically asked what outcome they would value most aftertreatment? . . . [Full text of this article]

Peter Lewis, retired medical informatician¹

¹ Bath BA2 2BB

palewis_bath@hotmail.com

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