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Editorials

Managing back pain and osteoarthritis without paracetamol

BMJ 2015; 350 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h1352 (Published 31 March 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h1352

Rapid Response:

Re: Managing back pain and osteoarthritis without paracetamol

It is now nearly 7 years since the BMJ published a large RCT* showing substantial long term benefit to patients with chronic or recurring low back pain from a course of 24 individual Alexander Technique lessons (the average number of days in pain fell from 21 per month to 3 per month, with the results better at 1 year than they were at 3 months). A recent pilot trial in knee osteoarthritis demonstrated considerable benefit from 1:1 Alexander Technique lessons, see also **,and a RCT is under way in the north of England on this topic. How much longer do patients have to wait for this method to appear in the NICE guidelines for chronic back pain and OA?
*BMJ 2008:337:a884
**Osteoarthritis and Cartilage 2013; 21 (Suppl): S106.

Competing interests: I am a medical doctor and a teacher of the Alexander Technique

04 April 2015
Miriam A Wohl
GP Expert Witness and Alexander Technique teacher
3 Reservoir View, Saddington, LE8 0QH