The technique requires you to be hooked up to electric sensors that will monitor certain body functions, enabling you to control their pace with thoughts. For example, if you have tightness in a specific muscle, you can use biofeedback to direct your body to relax the area, thereby reducing pain.
Biofeedback techniques are grouped together with meditation, hypnosis and progressive muscle relaxation as part of a field known as complementary or alternative medicine (CAM). They include four main groupings, including mind-body medicine, manipulative and body-based practices, biologically based practices, and energy medicine.
Those groups embrace such CAM practices as meditation, chiropractic, dietary supplements, massage therapy, aromatherapy, progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, spirituality, religion and prayer, acupuncture, movement therapy, biofeedback, Reiki, hypnosis, and music therapy.
These techniques are not part of traditional or conventional medicine, but they have been tested and proven to have results in at least some patients. Complementary and alternative techniques are often used in tandem but are separate areas. Complementary medicine is used with conventional medicine while alternative are medicines used in place of conventional styles.
Biofeedback: Big Business
Although these techniques have been around for thousands of years in some cases, they were not formally accepted until 1999, when the National Institutes of Health created its National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The goal of the new institute was to explore the usefulness and safety of alternative and complementary interventions while determining their roles in improving health care.
In 2007, research by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine reported that 38.3 percent of adults and 11.8 percent of children used some form of complementary or alternative medicine in the preceding year. That’s estimated to be $34 billion in treatments being spent yearly, making CAM a huge business.
Studies are backing the faith shown by those treatments because they are proving effective in a wide range of conditions, ailments and disorders.
Biofeedback Specifics
Biofeedback is used as a relaxation technique that is used to help many mental and physical issues.
Some of the most common uses for biofeedback:
1) Asthma and other breathing issues – Focusing on the wheezing and rate of air intake and output can help relax you.
2) Chronic pain – This allows the patient to turn down the levels of pain by focusing on affected areas.
3) High blood pressure – As with any relaxation technique, the goal is to reduce the levels of stress in the body.
4) Anxiety – Your body’s tension is directly related to high levels of bad thoughts. By calming yourself and focusing on relaxation, you can ratchet down the issues.
5) Constipation and irritable bowel syndrome – Focusing on these specific issues can help the colon and intestines with their struggle to process waste.
Biofeedback has also been used to help with chemotherapy effects, incontinence and Raynaud’s disease, among other conditions.
Many medical professionals are turning to the therapies as ways to help people along a gentler and more natural path to healing their conditions. The therapies are noninvasive, can be used in place of certain medications with unpleasant side effects, work when medications don’t do so well, are a more natural form of healing for patients with delicate conditions like pregnancy, and put the patient more in charge of treatments.
There are several types of biofeedback techniques. The best one for you depends on specific health problems and the outcome you wish to achieve.
Several techniques may be used in your treatment. They include:
1) Electromyography (EMG) feedback – This provides information on muscle tension in your body and is used to help you focus on relaxing.
2) Galvanic skin response – Your sweat will be monitored, alerting you to anxiety.
3) Temperature biofeedback – These monitor internal temperature, which typically drops when you are anxious. This can alert you to relax.
4) Heart rate variability biofeedback – This monitors heart rate and can help with attempts to control blood pressure, stress, anxiety and lung function.
5) Brainwave biofeedback – Sometimes called EEG biofeedback, for electro-encephalography. This monitors your brain and lets a technician know the impact of pain. The technique seeks to have the patient turn down pain levels and identifies situations that may provoke episodes of periodic pain.
How It Works
At the beginning of a biofeedback session, you will be attached to electrical sensors at different places on the body. These will be used to monitor you during the session in such crucial areas as skin temperature, muscle tension and heart rate. The sensors will relay information to a machine that will, in turn, let you know what’s going on, typically with a beeping noise or a flashing light.
When the patient receives the information, that's the cue to modify thoughts, behaviors or physiological reactions to the stimulus. The hope is that by learning to recognize the signs of your issues – for example, which muscles may stiffen and cause you pain -- you can learn to calm yourself and focus on healing solutions to the physical and/or mental problems while you are at home or otherwise away from immediate medical attention.
Biofeedback sessions may last anywhere from 30 minutes to 60 minutes and depend largely on how quickly you learn to recognize the clues to your condition and respond to them. Some patients can learn in 10 sessions while others may require 50 or more before seeing results. Keep in mind that biofeedback may not be covered by your insurance plan, so consult your insurer before undergoing any CAM therapy.
A medical professional typically can give a reference for therapists who specialize in biofeedback, and you may be required to use that particular practitioner if it is part of your insurance plan. Many biofeedback practitioners are also doctors, nurses or physical therapists in addition to their biofeedback practice, but there are no rules in some states as to who can qualify. It’s important to ask if they are licensed, certified or otherwise registered with a professional body or are working under the supervision of a licensed professional.
Biofeedback has helped many patients regain a sense of control when it comes to their health issues. Discuss the techniques with your doctor and see if they may help with your specific medical conditions.