P03.03. Body Schema and Feldenkrais®: Effects Upon Subjects With Low Back Pain

Background and Purpose: Back problems continue to be the number one symptom disorder for consulting complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners. Neuroscience continues to indicate that the human brain undergoes a process of somato-topic cortical reorganization in association with sustained states of chronic pain. Feldenkrais® practitioners aim to create individualized multimodal learning experiences that are believed to clarify an improved neuroplasticity-based change in the cognitive construct of one’s own body schema. A specific protocol is applied to observe some responses in subjects with mechanical, non-specific low back pain (LBP) in a clinical practice setting. Methods: Forty subjects (30 female, 10 male) diagnosed with persistent LBP attended a Feldenkrais®-based physical therapy intervention series of sessions while assessing usual baseline measures—including Pain Intensity on VAS and observations of Gait Quality. Using anatomical skeleton models and proprioceptive touch, 3 inquiries for primary learning conditions were made for clarifying anatomical imagery including (1) The Hip Socket axis of rotation, (2) Inner ilia pelvis as an inner bridge of leg support, and (3) correlating the vestibular apparatus in combination with global Feldenkrais® movements. No attention was given to treating isolated lumbar segments directly. Results: All conditions were novel interpretations of body awareness for subject’s previous notions of body schema. Pain on VAS reduced from 6/10 average to 2/10. All subjects had a more balanced gait. Conclusions: Body schema–based somatic education interventions, like the Feldekrais® method, deserve further investigation and do not appear to rely on treating the anatomical regions of perceived involvement directly.