•  Biofeedback and Pain Relief •  Guided Imagery •  Meditation: Health Benefits •  Stress

Biofeedback is a technique that uses mechanical feedback to teach you how to relax, even when you're under stress. With a little practice, you may be able to train yourself to control your blood pressure, breathing, muscle tension, and other bodily functions using painless electrodes that give you on-the-spot "feedback" in the form of graphs, beeps, or flashing lights. You then try to alter those cues (for example, quiet the beeps or slow down the lights) in an attempt to influence the bodily functions themselves.

It's a little like playing a video game. In a typical, 50-minute session, you'll sit in front of a machine, with biofeedback sensors attached to your forehead, neck, back, and forefinger. The electrodes monitor your heart rate, perspiration, skin temperature, and breathing, and register changes in those functions. Your practitioner will coach you through the session - having you discuss problems with your boss if that's causing you stress, for example - watching for signals such as tensed muscles, faster heartbeats, or uneven breathing. The feedback machine alerts you to those changes, and the practitioner helps you reduce the stress with muscle relaxation, redirected thinking, or deep breathing. The number of sessions you need depends on your condition; it can range from two or three to 20 or more.

Many stress-related conditions, such as headaches, insomnia, and digestive problems, respond well to biofeedback because the training can teach you to relax. Biofeedback can also help manage conditions like repetitive strain injury, panic attacks, sleep disorders, respiratory problems, irritable bowel disorder, paralysis from stroke or injury, epilepsy, circulatory problems, heart arrhythmia, high blood pressure, migraines, muscle spasms, incontinence, and addiction. In one 2005 Chinese study on children, researchers found that biofeedback was an effective treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Yes. Mechanical prompts make you more aware of what's going on in your body. But with a little practice, you'll learn to recognize your body's signals and start to bring them under control wherever you are, using the same relaxation techniques you learned during your sessions. Biofeedback is often part of an overall stress management program that includes exercise, physical therapy, or meditation. It can also be combined with other medical treatments.

It's very safe. Before you get started, though, check with your doctor to make sure all possible causes of your symptoms have been explored. Ask, too, if he or she thinks biofeedback might be a good thing to try.

Many internists, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, and physical therapists are trained in biofeedback technique. Your doctor may refer you, or you can seek out a practitioner on your own. Look for someone who is certified with the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America, which has certain minimal standards for training and education. To find a practitioner in your area go to the Find a Practitioner page on the Institute's website (www.bcia.org).Check with your insurance company to see if it covers biofeedback treatment.

Further Resources

C. Norman Shealy , The Complete Family Guide to Alternative Medicine. Element Books, 1996.

New Choices in Natural Healing, edited by Bill Gottlieb, 1997 Rodale Press.

References

First published January 5, 2001
Last updated January 23, 2008
Copyright © 1999 Consumer Health Interactive

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