Effect of Hanna Somatic Education on Low Back and Neck Pain Levels (2022) * ​Peer-reviewed clinical study *

🔍 What was studied?
  • What it is: HSE is a neuromuscular “mind–body” method developed by Tom Hanna. It uses voluntary muscle contraction and slow release (called “pandiculation”) to retrain the brain–muscle connection and reduce tension. 
  • Why it matters: Chronic low back and neck pain are extremely common and disabling. Non‑drug, movement‑based therapies are increasingly recommended.

👥 Who participated?
  • 103 adults (79% female) with chronic neck/back pain (>2 months), treated at Johns Hopkins Aramco in Saudi Arabia between 2016–2018.

🗓 Treatment approach
  • 2–5 individual sessions lasting 40–60 minutes, scheduled 1–2 weeks apart over 2–8 weeks.
  • Average of 2.8 sessions per patient.

📉 Key results
  1. Major pain reduction
    • On a 0–5 scale, average pain dropped from ~3.2 to ~0.6 — an ~80% decrease!
    • Improved outcomes regardless of pain in neck, back, or both, and across all pain durations and age groups. 
  2. Less medication use
    • Pain medication users dropped from 53.5% before treatment to 13.6% afterward — a 74.5% drop. 
  3. Fewer doctor visits
    • Average visits in 6 months went from 2 → 0.5 — a reduction of about 75%. 

🧠 How it works (the theory)
  • Sensory motor amnesia: Muscles can become habitually tight because the brain has “forgotten” how to release them. HSE aims to restore awareness and control through slow, conscious movement. 
  • Movement helps relax muscles, improve circulation, and reduce pain without passive methods like stretching or massage.

⚠️ Limitations & next steps
  • Retrospective design: No control group—so some effects might be due to placebo or other factors.
  • Short-term follow-up: The study only measured outcomes up to 6 months.
  • Recommendation: More rigorous randomized controlled trials are needed to establish long-term effectiveness and compare HSE to other treatments. 

✅ Bottom line — in plain terms
  • Around three sessions of HSE led to significantly less chronic neck/back pain, much lower use of pain meds, and far fewer doctor visits in the following six months.
  • HSE teaches you how to feel and control muscle tension, unlike passive stretching or massage.
  • But more robust research is needed to confirm these promising results.
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Click HERE to read the entire study

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