RESEARCH

Below is some research on AT for PD. More is in progress and planned.

• After 12 lessons, seven people with PD in a study doing AT had reduced depression and improved management of their condition.

• A study of 93 people with PD doing AT found that, compared to having massage or doing nothing, participants were less depressed and had improved (as reported by the Self-assessment Parkinson's Disease Disability Scale).

• After a course of AT lessons over six months, 28 people with PD in a study retained some skill.

• After performance of 25 activities by the AT group with PD compared to two control groups with PD, learning the AT was shown to have a generic beneficial impact on performance of activities of different kinds, regardless if they were performed in lessons.

• 20 people with PD in a study, during quiet standing and step initiation, had better results with AT instruction vs. instruction based on a popular concept of posture correction. (See Lighten Up Study)

• “Long-term effects of AT in managing motor symptoms of young onset PD” - After six years of private Alexander lessons, a student with PD, had measurably better posture and balance through sitting, standing, and reaching, than 10 years prior.