Sir,

I was glad that Dr. Ormsby, in her excellent article in your September-October number, drew attention to the factor of muscular tension in patients with chronic fibrositis and to the need for a technique to teach relaxation.

However, I am continually surprised at the ignorance shown by the greater number of medical practitioners, and of others who specialize in physiotherapy, of the discovery and work of Mr. F. M. Alexander on the postural reflexes and of his technique for their re-education. Dr. Ormsby in her article in the September-October number of your Journal says: "Faulty posture of the head, which to so large an extent controls posture rest of the body, usually characterizes this group." This has surely been established as a fact as the "primary control" by Professor Magnus of Utrecht in animals by F. M. Alexander in human beings; and the latter's technique for re-education has been endorsed by no less a person than Professor Coghill, as well as by many eminent medical men.

In my experience of the practice of progressive muscular relaxation, from Jacobson's book, I have found that complete relaxation in the lying position is much more quickly and thoroughly achieved by using Alexander's technique. I have found also that any degree of differential relaxation is possible only when the postural reflexes are working correctly, as every action is conditioned by these; F. M. Alexander's technique is the only scientific one for their reconditioning in correct use. The titles of the books by F. M. Alexander to which I refer are as follows: Man's Supreme Inheritance, Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, The Use of the Self, and The Universal Constant in Living.

I am, etc.,
Alice E. Bagguley, S.R.N., C.S.P.
Cheltenham