Welcome

The main results of the ATLAS trial were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on 3^rd November 2015.[1] Although an entry was quickly placed in the ASO bibliography, ASO did not publish a news story on this important research at the time. A year later, it is time to make amends.

A team including academics from the University of Salford, the University of Manchester and Tim Cacciatore from University College London has published a research report entitled ‘Reductions in co-contraction following neuromuscular re-education in people with knee osteoarthritis’[1] that suggests that 20 lessons in Alexander Technique could have significant benefits for people with the condition.  

A small, short-term trial conducted with people with chronic neck pain has shown that attending a few Alexander Technique lessons led to reductions in neck pain intensity but that the benefit was not significantly greater than that obtained from the use of heat pads. However, neck pain intensity reduction following Alexander lessons was significantly greater than that achieved through attending guided imagery sessions. Significant benefits of the Alexander lessons compared with either heat pads or guided imagery were also observed for quality of life (on the physical scale).

An exciting new collection of articles "that document state-of-the-art research on the mind and the brain, consciousness, and the self" has been published on an open access basis at open-mind.net thanks to an initiative by Professor Thomas Metzinger and Dr. Jennifer Windt of Gutenberg University at Mainz. Metzinger is the author of one of the more accessible philosophically-oriented books on the self and consciousness The Ego Tunnel.