Biofeedback Therapy
Biofeedback therapy is a mind and body assessment treatment that is conducted to improve physical and mental health by understanding how different parts of an individual's body function. This treatment therapy is nothing new; it has always been in the traditional medicine concept.
Biofeedback therapy utilizes a lot of tools such as a heart rate monitor, thermometer, EEG to measure brain waves, etc., to get biofeedback from the patient's body. On the basis of these instrumental feedbacks, the medical practitioner would suggest how you can make any physiological changes. Let's get to know some basic facts about biofeedback therapy and what benefits it would include.
How Does Biofeedback Therapy Help?
Biofeedback therapy helps patients to understand how they involuntarily react to stress and understand how their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact with one another. Many of our body’s responses occur on a subconscious level. When we are nervous, tense or under severe emotional stress, these involuntary functions can lead to distress in the body. Biofeedback therapy the body’s subconscious responses to emotional and physical stress. Data collected during biofeedback therapy, provide medical professionals with the information needed to design an individualized treatment plan to address the patient’s specific needs.
Which Health Issues Can be Treated With Biofeedback Therapy?
Biofeedback treatment can help with relieving many physical and mental issues such as:
Urinary Incontinence
Biofeedback therapy is also beneficial for people who find themselves less patient when it comes to controlling the urge to urinate. You can search for Biofeedback Therapy near me to improve and restore strength in the pelvic floor muscles to control the urge of emptying the bladder. Unlike other medications, biofeedback would not cause any side effects to treat incontinence.
Chronic Pain
Biofeedback therapy can help with identifying tight muscles, so you can learn about how to relax those muscles. Back pain, temporomandibular joint disorders, and abdominal pain are some chronic disorders where patients suffer from sharp pain pangs. Biofeedback therapy can benefit from relieving such pain and discomfort for patients of all ages, starting from children to elderlies.
Anxiety
One of the popular use of biofeedback is to cure anxiety. The biofeedback measurements allow you to be aware of your body's response when you feel stressed and anxious. After some therapy sessions, you start to learn about how to suppress those anxious responses.
High Blood Pressure
The use of biofeedback is extremely common for hypertension conditions. This technique would be more effective in lowering the blood pressure if the patient takes prescribed medication and follow proper diet alongside.
Headaches
The best use of biofeedback involves treating headaches. Muscle tension and severe stress can cause migraines. There is much evidence that biofeedback therapy can significantly relax body muscles and ease the stress level to mitigate the severity of headaches.
What Does the Biofeedback Process Involve?
During the biofeedback therapy session, various relaxation exercises are involved, such as deep breathing, tightening and relaxing of different muscle groups, etc. Additionally, the therapy process also involves meditation to make you focus on your thoughts and release negative emotions.
There is also concentration therapy involved, such as guided imagery which includes concentrating on a specific image that would make your mind focused and your body more relaxed. You can look for Biofeedback Therapy near me on the internet and find one that meets your requirements.
Every biofeedback therapy session lasts for about sixty to ninety minutes on average. And after ten to eleven sessions, you can start to see the benefits of biofeedback therapy. However, for some chronic disorders, it might take more therapy sessions to see the improved result.
Biofeedback Tools Used in the Treatment Process
Electromyogram
This monitor assists in measuring muscle activity and tension. This biofeedback might help with back pain, muscle retraining after injury, and anxiety disorders, etc.
Thermometer
It helps with measuring body temperature. And there is also a thermal instrument to measure skin temperature.
Neurofeedback or Electroencephalography (EEG)
An EEG device is used to measure brain waves. This feedback can be used for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Moreover, epilepsy and seizure disorders can also require EEG readings.
Electrodermal Activity (EDA)
An electrodermal device is utilized to measure sweating and can be used for pain and anxiety.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
HRV instrument is used for measuring heart rate. Heart rate feedback can be used for anxiety issues, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. If a patient has an irregular heartbeat, HRV biofeedback is critical for the therapy.
What Benefits Does Biofeedback Therapy Involve?
The most beneficial part of using biofeedback therapy is that these treatment sessions do not involve taking drugs or undergoing psychotherapy to achieve the desired result. Therefore, you can assure that with biofeedback therapy, you will not suffer from any side effects. You only use your mind to control how your body should react and relax it.
Biofeedback therapy can be conducted by many health care providers such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and other general physicians. Look for a qualified biofeedback provider who is associated with applied psychophysiology & biofeedback. Hopefully, the above discussions have helped you have a basic understanding of biofeedback therapy. Now that you know how effective this therapy can be for easing the symptoms of anxiety and depression, you can consider curing your long-existing anxiety issues.