This August sees the publication of some research in the online British Medical Journal. It is by the Universities of Southampton and Bristol into the use of the Alexander Technique. The trial involved some 580 patients who were suffering from chronic back pain. The Technique teaches better posture and other coping strategies combined with a directed physical exercise regime based on walking increasing distances at faster speeds. The aim is to produce a better alignment of the head, neck and back muscles. As it stands, more people lose time at work from lower back pain than any other cause. It costs the UK economy millions of pounds sterling a year in medical resources and lost productivity. The standard treatment is painkillers like tramadol. Doctors also recommend massage. The study found massage produced some benefits but the effects faded after three months. The results of the study show an impressive improvement in the group taught the Technique both over six and twenty-four sessions. There was a lower use of tramadol and other painkillers, better long-term mobility and an improved quality of life. In one sense, this is a surprising result because the use of any technique relies on the patient’s motivation. It seems that reducing or relieving back pain is a good spur to learning. This is a reasonably large clinical trial. The Technique is a “cheap” form of treatment. If more people follow the research findings and adopt it, they may benefit and countries like the UK may save valuable medical resources.

Whenever you set up a system, it’s only as strong as the weakest link. Sometimes, the cause of the problem is inside the organization. Other times, the problem is a conflict of interest in the middleman. Whatever the cause, you can get trampled on unless you stand up for yourself. Most days, when you’re driving on the freeway, you get to see the wreckage from traffic accidents. You pass by because it’s not your problem. Auto insurance companies pick up the pieces. At least, that’s what all the ads say. Out of interest, I tracked down one of the drivers to see how it really goes down. Sarah from Wisconsin was making her usual commute when she was rear-ended. She was lucky. It flipped her over but she was unhurt. She did everything by the book. Waited with her car until the police appeared. Gave her statement and was later cleared of all blame in the report. Everyone who saw her car thought it was a total loss. Even the guys who came on the tow truck shook their heads and congratulated her on her escape without injury. “They dropped me off at an approved car rental agency. One telephone call to my auto insurance company and I was driving again.” She shook her head with a wry smile. “I never thought there were going to be problems. Roadside assistance had worked perfectly. I was in a rental car. The wreck had been cleared from the road. I was expecting a check for a replacement vehicle within days.” Except when the word came from the “certified” repair shop, it was ‘repair’. “Everyone thought they were nuts. Repair a car that badly damaged and you’ve got one problem after another and no-one wants to buy it secondhand. But they kept on like a broken record. Repair, repair. Guess they needed the business. I asked the agent to give me the name of another “certified” repair shop. They took one look at the wreck, laughed and called the claims assessors. After haggling, it was agreed a total loss.” When you’ve got health problems, you look for a second opinion from a different physician if you don’t get the answer you want. The same holds true for auto insurance. Repair shops make money when they repair. You have a right to challenge the first shop’s assessment. Sarah got her check. It was a hassle but she struck to her guns and won out in the end.

When you sit behind the wheel of your off-roader, there’s so much metal around you. It’s easy to think nothing can ever go wrong. Who needs auto insurance? But then you meet someone like Jack and suddenly you aren’t as sure anymore. Jack was driving down from Eureka to Frisco. “It was early in the day so we decided to take off into the Lost Coast trails.” He smiled and talked for a while about his family’s love for nature. “We stopped a couple of times and mooched around. When the kids got hungry, we ate the food we’d bought along. It was all cool until I came round a redwood and hit a deer head on. We just sat there, stunned with airbags pinning us to our seats, a dead deer hanging off the hood and wreckage everywhere.” He seemed calm talking about it now. Back then, it was different. “We climbed out of the car and tried calling for roadside assistance, but there was no signal. We were stranded in a wilderness, miles from anywhere. Guess that was the most frightening thing – being alone. We put up a warning round the tree so no one would plow into the wreck, then set off walking. It was about an hour before another vehicle showed up. They were local and knew a farm with a landline. Folks were really kind that day. Perhaps it was the kids who were all shook up. They got everyone on our side.” The police came fairly quickly. A wreck on those unpaved roads is a real hazard. The tow truck had further to come. By then, Jack had contacted the auto insurance company so everything was on track for the rescue. He had a rental car policy but no local garage had cars to rent. So the family piled into a truck owned by a neighbor who took them down to Westport where they got a new set of wheels. “It took a few days for the wreck to be shipped down to the body shop in Frisco. Not a surprise given where we’d abandoned it. The insurance agent was great help and got the claims department going. I guess we got to hear all the deer jokes but it was all sorted out in the end. Next time though, we’ll stay on the 101.”