Biofeedback Therapy
What Is Biofeedback Therapy?
The human body is an amazing organism, with many essential bodily functions doing their jobs without intervention or even input from your conscious brain. Your heart beats, your body maintains a constant temperature or blood pressure. When everything is working well, you don’t give it much thought. But what if you’re feeling stress, leading to hypertension or rapid heartbeat? Did you know that there are techniques you can learn that will allow you to exert some level of control over what seem to be involuntary actions in your body? Those techniques are part of a science known as biofeedback.
How Does Biofeedback Work?
Biofeedback works on the principle that you can develop some level of control over certain internal bodily functions. When you participate in a biofeedback treatment session, you’ll typically have electrodes attached to your skin, which send signals to a monitor. You’ll be able to see the changes on the monitor as you experience stress or anxiety. You can then use relaxation techniques or other strategies to lower your heart rate or blood pressure, or make other changes in your body. Through repeated sessions and experience, you can learn the strategies that most effectively improve your health.
What Can You Treat with Biofeedback Therapy?
Biofeedback therapy has been effectively used to treat a wide range of medical conditions, from chronic pain to migraine headaches, from high blood pressure to anxiety, asthma, constipation and fibromyalgia.
The Biofeedback Process
The biofeedback process will vary based on the approach being taken. If a meditative approach is desired, there may not be a need for computerized devices to monitor the body. A patient can use a self-practice to become more in-tune with their body to slow down breathing and heart rate and reduce stress. A therapist may also guide a meditation session.
For a more active, scientific approach to biofeedback therapy, doctors attach sensors to the patient’s body to measure, amplify, and relay physiological responses within the patient’s body. This creates a visual or more complete idea of a patient’s internal health. Using this feedback, patients can begin to cognitively manipulate their physiological responses to certain stimuli. This sets in motion the ability to truly control, limit, or reverse conditions with continued care/effort.
Conditions Treated With Biofeedback
Biofeedback has been clinically tested to be effective in treating a number of conditions. From cognitive-behavioral conditions to pain, an increased awareness, understanding, and control of your body overall or particular body functions can limit the impact of acute or chronic conditions. Due to its necessary involvement of patient participation and the fact that many conditions will affect patients differently, the results of biofeedback will vary from patient to patient and from condition to condition. Conditions that may be improved through biofeedback include:
- Anxiety – efficacious
- Arthritis – probably efficacious
- Asthma – possibly efficacious
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – efficacious
- Autism – possibly efficacious
- Bell’s palsy – possibly efficacious
- Cerebral palsy – possibly efficacious
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – possibly efficacious
- Chronic pain – efficacious
- Coronary artery disease – possibly efficacious
- Cystic fibrosis – possibly efficacious
- Depression – possibly efficacious
- Diabetes mellitus – probably efficacious
- Epilepsy – efficacious
- Erectile dysfunction – possibly efficacious
- Fecal disorders/constipation – efficacious
- Chronic fatigue – possibly efficacious
- Hand dystonia – possibly efficacious
- Headaches – efficacious
- Hypertension – efficacious
- Insomnia – probably efficacious
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) – possibly efficacious
- Motion sickness – efficacious
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – possibly efficacious
- Raynaud’s disease – efficacious
- Repetitive strain injury – possibly efficacious
- Respiratory failure – possibly efficacious
- Stroke – possibly efficacious
- Substance abuse – probably efficacious
- Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) – efficacious
- Tinnitus – possibly efficacious
- Traumatic brain injury ( TBI ) – probably efficacious
- Urinary incontinence in females – efficacious and specific
- Urinary incontinence in males – probably efficacious
- Vulvar vestibulitis – probably efficacious
Biofeedback is a proven yet still promising treatment method for numerous conditions. The more research that is conducted, the more understanding doctors will have on how to maximize the results and applications of biofeedback.
Schedule your consultation today to discuss what biofeedback can do to improve your overall health and well-being by calling Advantage Healthcare Systems at (877) 487-8289.