How is Biofeedback Used Today?

Clinical biofeedback techniques that grew out of the early laboratory procedures are now widely used to treat an ever-lengthening list of conditions. These include:

Migraine headaches, tension headaches, and many other types of pain
Disorders of the digestive system
High blood pressure and its opposite, low blood pressure
Cardiac arrhythmias (abnormalities, sometimes dangerous, in the rhythm of the heartbeat)
Raynaud’s disease (a circulatory disorder that causes uncomfortably cold hands)
Epilepsy
Paralysis and other movement disorders

Specialists who provide biofeedback training range from psychiatrists and psychologists to dentists, internists, nurses, and physical therapists. Most rely on many other techniques in addition to biofeedback.

Patients usually are taught some form of relaxation exercise. Some learn to identify the circumstances that trigger their symptoms. They may also be taught how to avoid or cope with these stressful events. Most are encouraged to change their habits, and some are trained in special techniques for gaining such self-control. Biofeedback is not magic. It cannot cure disease or by itself make a person healthy. It is a tool, one of many available to health care professionals. It reminds physicians that behavior, thoughts, and feelings profoundly influence physical health. And it helps both patients and doctors understand that they must work together as a team.

Research shows that biofeedback, alone and in combination with other behavioral therapies, is effective for treating a variety of medical and psychological disorders. Biofeedback is currently used by physicians, nurses, psychologists, counselors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, a host of other professionals and laypeople alike.

In 1987, Schneider found that biofeedback is effective in reducing physician visits, medication usage, duration and frequency of hospital stays, as well as reducing mortality and enhancing quality of life.

Scientists cannot yet explain how biofeedback works. Most patients who benefit from biofeedback are trained to relax and modify their behavior. Most scientists believe that relaxation is a key component in biofeedback treatment of many disorders, particularly those brought on or made worse by stress. Their reasoning is based on what is known about the effects of stress on the body.

In brief, the argument goes like this: Stressful events produce strong emotions, which arouse certain physical responses. Many of these responses are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, the network of nerve tissues that helps prepare the body to meet emergencies by “flight or fight”.

If you get angry at your boss, it’s a different matter. Your body may prepare to fight. But since you want to keep your job, you try to ignore the angry feelings. Similarly, if on the way home you get stalled in traffic, there’s nothing you can do to get away. These situations can literally make you sick. Your body has prepared for action, but you cannot act. Individuals differ in the way they respond to stress. In some, one function, such as blood pressure, becomes more active while others remain normal. Many experts believe that these individual physical responses to stress can become habitual. When the body is repeatedly aroused, one or more functions may become permanently overactive and damage to bodily tissues may eventually result.

The hormone that initiates the body's response to stress, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRF), is found throughout the brain. Drugs of abuse also stimulate release of CRF. See the diagram above for how this works

Your body’s central nervous, endocrine, immune, and cardiovascular systems are involved in responding to stress.

The physical responses can vary: Short-term responses can cause a racing heart, sweaty palms, and a pounding head. Long-term responses can cause back pain, high blood pressure, sleeplessness, and an inability to make decisions.

Constant stress floods the body with stress hormones, Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH), which can increase the risk of serious health problems.