Biofeedback is a treatment technique in which people are trained to recognize and gain control over internal body functions by using signals from their own bodies. For example, if a person would like to be able to lower his/her muscle tension, biofeedback will help them to do so.
Our bodies produce electrical signals, and other information, that the biofeedback instruments receive and report back. Using biofeedback, you can learn to control many body functions through pleasant relaxation exercises. Learning the techniques are like learning to ride a bike, or anything else...the more you practice the easier it becomes.
Biofeedback is not magic. It alone cannot cure disease or make a person healthy. It is a tool that may aid the body’s normal curative abilities in bringing about relief. It often helps medicine become more effective and positively affects other types of treatments you may be receiving. Generally, the therapist will keep your physician informed.
Your body will be providing electrical signals to the biofeedback monitor and you will learn how to change your body’s functioning. This will take up to an hour and you will be asked to practice at home what you have learned in session.
A bathroom scale is a type of biofeedback instrument in that it gives you feedback about a biological state (how much you weigh). The blood pressure monitor your doctor uses to check your blood pressure is a type of biofeedback instrument.
Your biofeedback therapist may monitor muscle tension using an electromyograph (EMG), skin temperature with a thermistor, or brainwaves (neurofeedback) with an electroencephalogram (EEG).
Some biofeedback processes, such as thermal training for headache may take only a few sessions, whereas EEG biofeedback may take 10 to 20 sessions to begin to grasp what a particular state of consciousness “feels” like. Then more training to perfect the skill is necessary.
Biofeedback generally is used to treat three types of conditions.
Like any other form of treatment, Biofeedback requires appropriate techniques and patient cooperation. It places unusual demands on the client. They must examine their day to day lives to learn if they may be contributing to their own stress. They must commit themselves to practicing techniques (relaxation) everyday. Most importantly, they must accept much of the responsibility for maintaining their own health. When appropriate techniques and patient cooperation are present, there is every reason to expect there will be relief. Biofeedback is a pleasant form of treatment and while not a panacea, or cure-all it provides, in most cases, a more pleasant, effective life style as well as improvement in the condition being treated.
