How Does Biofeedback Therapy Benefit Patients?
People that engage in any sort of physical activity know that the way their bodies react to exercise can vary. One day you’re Rocky, running up those stairs like the champ you are. Other days you can barely lift a 5-pound weight. What causes this vast difference in ability and energy? It turns out that is it is our bodies telling us what it can or cannot handle.
This is called biofeedback, and we need to be paying attention to it. While our brains may think we are ready to tackle that marathon, our bodies may say “slow down!” There are many short ways you can do try to understand what your body is saying to you at any individual time.
There are ways that we can train ourselves to better manage our body’s function through biofeedback therapy. This therapy module is conducted by attaching electrodes to the skin. These electrodes help monitor and represent heart and breathing rates, blood pressure and muscle activity.
By being given the ability to see how your own body reacts to different stimuli, a biofeedback therapist will then train you on how to better control these functions. The therapist will teach relaxation techniques, including deep breathing, mindfulness meditation or guided imagery. The goal is to begin engaging in these exercises when you begin to notice a change somewhere in the body – hence the monitoring. While most biofeedback sessions are done in-office, there are at-home devices that patients may get in order to spend more time improving their control.
Biofeedback therapy is often used for many different conditions, including chronic pain, headaches, or anxiety. Studies have shown great efficacy in biofeedback on patients with severe anxiety, as the relaxation techniques allow the patient to see a trigger and control the response, before it becomes a panic attack. Additionally, more serious conditions like epilepsy, high blood pressure and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have all shown improvement with the use of biofeedback.
Used under Creative Commons Licensing courtesy of Ilmicrofono Oggiono
