Find Biofeedback Therapists Near Your Location

Biofeedback - An Overview

Biofeedback therapy involves being connected to electrical sensors that help you receive information, or feedback, about your body. And there is a variety of types. The brainwave method uses sensors to monitor brain waves using an electroencephalograph (EEG). The breathing method involves bands being placed on the abdomen and chest to monitor breathing patterns. The heart rate method uses finger or earlobe sensors, a device called a photoplethysmograph, and an electrocardiograph (ECG) to measure heart rate. That's not all! The muscle method places sensors over skeletal muscles with an electromyography (EMG) to monitor activity that can cause muscle contraction. Still more! The sweat glands method is used to measure the activity of sweat glands and the amount of perspiration on the skin to monitor anxiety levels while the temperature method is used to measure blood flow to the skin. This can prompt anyone to start relaxation techniques if temperature is seen to drop often.

Types of Biofeedback

• Brainwave biofeedback is used for psychospiritual transformation and consciousness development. In other words, it helps monitor electrical activity in the brain to heal the body the natural and drug-free way. Its beneficial effect on relaxation and stress reduction helps relieve a variety of ailments, including epilepsy, depression, post-traumatic stress syndrome, attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), chronic fatigue syndrome, drug and alcohol addiction, and emotional and physical trauma.

• Heart rate variability, or the change in the time intervals between adjacent heart beats, is also a type of biofeedback that trains patients to change the rhythms of their heart activity. And over the years, it has been applied to the treatment of asthma and numerous health, medical, and psychiatric conditions, including anxiety disorders, cardiovascular conditions, chronic fatigue, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), depression, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

• Temperature biofeedback involves a feedback thermometer being placed on a patient's finger or toe to detect skin temperature with a thermistor. It's one of the most common biofeedback approaches used by therapists when treating vascular-related disorders and other ailments in patients, including chronic pain, edema, tension headaches, essential hypertension, anxiety, and stress. Temperature biofeedback is also used as part of general stress management and many relaxation procedures.

What conditions are treated effectively with Biofeedback?

Biofeedback has proven to be effective for many different types of conditions out there. Some of them include migraines and tension headaches, bowel disorders, stress, high blood pressure, and a variety of unhealthy addictions. For instance, biofeedback can help shape and maintain bowel control after it becomes affected by disease, trauma, or age-related changes in the body. Several bowel disorders include constipation and painful spasms of the pelvic floor muscles. How, you ask? Well, biofeedback techniques help re-establish the patterns we learned at a young age by retraining defective processes and restoring normal body function. And the good news? It is a non-surgical, non-invasive therapy, and can be administered by a physician, nurse, or physical therapist.

What are the advantages of Biofeedback?

As a learned mind-body technique that provides instant, easy-to-understand information, biofeedback allows us to become more aware of what goes on inside our bodies, which, in turn, helps us gain more control of our health. During a session, a biofeedback therapist attaches sensors to parts of the body, monitoring a variety of functions, including muscle tension, brain activity, heart rate, and blood pressure. With that information, we can identify early signs of disease or health conditions before they cause physical symptoms, then learn how to prevent and treat them. They can include tension headaches, stress, anxiety, urinary incontinence, injury, constipation, rheumatoid arthritis, Raynaud's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), high blood pressure, chronic pain, epilepsy, asthma, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). All in all, biofeedback relieves hard-to-manage conditions and teaches us a set of skills to remain healthy without prescription drugs, surgery, or side effects.

Can Biofeedback aid in weight loss?

Most definitely! Since Biofeedback is well-known for helping people around the world gain control of their bodies, which includes stress reduction and relaxation, this alternative therapy stands out in the category of weight loss. For instance, if you were interested in using this technique to shed unwanted pounds, biofeedback can help you by increasing your willpower, allowing you to stick to a healthy, well-balanced diet and maintain healthy lifestyle behaviors. In addition, biofeedback can help you curb unhealthy appetites and calm cravings caused by emotional eating, or eating while stressed, which would have usually prevented you from achieving your ultimate weight loss goals in the past. The good news: Biofeedback is available as your personal stress measurement device to help you reduce emotional eating and continue with those good eating habits, even after you have lost weight.

Can Biofeedback help treat chronic pain?

Yes, biofeedback therapy is considered an effective treatment for tension headaches and several other forms of chronic pain. Since biofeedback allows us to recognize the tension and stress that causes pain, we are then able to control our sympathetic nervous system, release the tension in our muscles, and improve our circulation, helping reduce the amount of pain we feel. In other words, when our bodily processes are displayed on a biofeedback monitor, we can learn to control our functions and identify which activities we want to change for ultimate health and well-being. The types of pain that we can control and ultimately reduce include chronic back pain, tension headaches, migraines, head injuries, muscle spasms, muscle pain and immobility, and spinal cord injuries. The good news about biofeedback in regard to pain management is that the therapy is recognized as safe and no negative side effects have ever been reported.

What are the most effective Biofeedback techniques?

A few of the most commonly used forms of biofeedback therapy are electromyography (EMG), thermal biofeedback, and neurofeedback or electroencephalography (EEG). To understand them a little better, EMG measures muscle tension in patients through surface electrodes and sometimes the insertion of wires or needles to record an EMG signal. EMG biofeedback is applied by therapists when they want to treat chronic pain, anxiety, stress, urinary incontinence, cerebral palsy, torticollis, and temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD). Thermal biofeedback measures body or skin temperature to assess a patient's physical state. This type of biofeedback is usually applied to treat Raynaud's disease, hypertension, migraines, stress, and other symptoms worsened by anxiety. Last but not least, EEG measures brain wave activity or records electrical activity of the brain. With electrodes being placed on a patient's scalp, it is most often used to diagnose epilepsy and sleep disorders, characterize seizures for treatment, and monitor the depth of anesthesia.

How can you find a qualified Biofeedback Therapist near you?

That's easy, just use HealingRadius! As a premier online marketplace, HealingRadius lists a wide variety of holistic wellness center owners and independent therapists nationwide, especially those who administer biofeedback therapy. If you are looking for a qualified therapist in your area, all you need to do is log on to HealingRadius.com, choose your location, and then search by condition, therapy, or business name. You are also able to review different business profiles, check out the reviews, and conveniently book your appointment or session online! As you can see, finding a biofeedback therapist in your area is as easy as 1, 2, 3!