Interesting question. Feldenkrais is extremely popular in some communities (e.g., dance), and its participants are strong believers in the approach. The foundation of the approach is based on knowledge/beliefs about the nervous system in the mid-20th century regarding sensorimotor education and the best approach to teaching new or "more efficient" movement patterns. This basis badly needs to be updated based on current knowledge of the nervous system, especially motor learning and systems neuroscience. It also needs high-quality, objective studies to be in line with evidence-based approaches. That is not to say it is ineffective. It shares many principles with current "mindfulness" approaches, and although not widely studied, subjective reports are very positive. It just needs to be updated and compared to meaningful control groups. Good qualitative research may also identify key elements that contribute to the positive objective feelings of participants. 

I'm not aware of any research to date, but am also looking at conducting some.  Moshe Feldenkrais' work is based on sound scientific rationale so is actually a really good system for investigation.

I'd certainly be interested in a collaborative study Jitka Varekova

 Dear colleagues,

thank you very much for your interesting answers. They are really valuable to me. Every year  at our University the Awareness through the Movement course takes place. More than one hundred people are participating Feldenkrais excercise for 3 days. There are classes for students as well and we have good cooperation with FM lecturers. So I am really interested in ideas about this topic and possible collaboration.

Best regards, Jitka

I'm looking at a lot of things in relation to global movement; and gait analysis seems to be a useful tool as it is fundamentally one of if not the most functional movement patterns we have.  Therefore a study looking at the impact Awareness through Movement Classes have on gait would be a reasonably straight forward study??

Yes, it is a good inspiration. I will think about it and check our possibilities of measurement in motor laboratory.

I founded a systematic review - The effectiveness of the feldenkrais method: a systematic review of the evidence.

She the abstract: 

The Feldenkrais Method (FM) has broad application in populations interested in improving awareness, health, and ease of function. This review aimed to update the evidence for the benefits of FM, and for which populations. A best practice systematic review protocol was devised. Included studies were appraised using the Cochrane risk of bias approach and trial findings analysed individually and collectively where possible. Twenty RCTs were included (an additional 14 to an earlier systematic review). The population, outcome, and findings were highly heterogeneous. However, meta-analyses were able to be performed with 7 studies, finding in favour of the FM for improving balance in ageing populations (e.g., timed up and go test MD -1.14 sec, 95% CI -1.78, -0.49; and functional reach test MD 6.08 cm, 95% CI 3.41, 8.74). Single studies reported significant positive effects for reduced perceived effort and increased comfort, body image perception, and dexterity. Risk of bias was high, thus tempering some results. Considered as a body of evidence, effects seem to be generic, supporting the proposal that FM works on a learning paradigm rather than disease-based mechanisms. Further research is required; however, in the meantime, clinicians and professionals may promote the use of FM in populations interested in efficient physical performance and self-efficacy.

 Thank you, prof. Marques, I have found it. It is interesting.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25949266

All the time. It fixed my knee, where everyone else failed. Feldenkrais training also played a major role in the development of our latest approach to curing plantar fasciitis. I think the Feldenkrais Method is held back by the name. It doesn't market well, but nor does 'body-awareness training.' Happy Trails, Kevin aka FitOldDog

http://athletewithstent.com/chronic-plantar-fasciitis-treatment-guide/

Hi all, there's a good summary of the most recently published studies on the Feldenkrais Method in the editorial of the Feldenkrais Journal. It mentions the systematic reviews that have been mentioned here, as well as research published after those reviews: http://iffresearchjournal.org/volume/5/introduction-editorial

It's worth quoting in full a portion of that editorial: "One ongoing challenge in investigating the outcomes of the Feldenkrais Method is that it is very difficult to 'blind' trials for practices like Feldenkrais (for example, for participants to not know whether they are receiving the “intervention” or not). Even with sham interventions, participants will often be able to guess fairly accurately which is the real intervention and which is the sham (Licciardone and Russo 2006). This lack of blinding is one of the reasons that the evidence in Feldenkrais outcome studies frequently receives a lower level of evidence rating. Buchanan draws on work by Mehling, DiBlasi, and Hecht (2005) to suggest ways that this risk of bias can be dealt with in studies of practices like the Feldenkrais Method."

I'm training to be a practitioner in the method and have found immense value in it. Practitioners are careful to state that Feldenkrais is a learning method and not a therapeutic or exercise modality. Nonetheless, the basis for the method is the basis that a specific attention to movement can reorganize (albeit perhaps temporarily) the sensorimotor cortex. With this in mind, I wonder if "objective" evidence for the efficacy of the method may be strengthened with fMRI and other brain activity studies; I have only seen one by Verrel et al (2015), which is mentioned in that editorial. I would be interested in hearing more about work done in this domain.

Hillier (2015) and Buchanan (2012), have both (separately) reviewed a substantial body of research and evidence about the method. Also, Doidge (2015) dedicates a complete chapter of his (informative) book "The Brain Ways of Healing" to the method.

There is a large amount of research done on the Feldenkrais Method already. The best place to look is the International Feldenkrais Federation. There are links to a large data base of literature, including systematic reviews of the data undertaken to date. You can look for contact details of Cliff Symth, who knows what is happening around the world in relation to research.

https://feldenkrais-method.org/