Biofeedback: Definition, Types, Techniques, Efficacy

A 2024 randomized controlled trial found that ultrasound-based biofeedback improved symptoms in 48 participants over 5 weeks of treatment. However, significant benefits did not remain at a 10-week follow up. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a biofeedback machine, Resperate, for decreasing stress and lowering blood pressure. Resperate is a portable electronic machine that helps you have slow, deep breathing.

Once you learn exercises through biofeedback with a certified healthcare provider and monitoring instruments, you can practice the methods at home. Healthcare providers don’t use biofeedback therapy as the sole treatment for most of these conditions. They typically require other therapies, like medication or psychotherapy (talk therapy). The frequency of your biofeedback sessions will be prescribed and monitored by your behavioral health provider.

Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback

The specific approach you choose to utilize might depend upon what you hope to accomplish and what your therapist or physician recommends. Some biofeedback experts choose to become certified to show their extra training and experience in the practice. Be aware that some items might be falsely sold as biofeedback machines. Also, some people who teach biofeedback may not be certified or have enough training to help you. By Brett Sears, PTBrett Sears, PT, MDT, is a physical therapist with over 20 years of experience in orthopedic and hospital-based therapy. Keep in mind that mindfulness mediation is a practice, and therefore it is not meant to be perfect.

Why does Heart Rate Variability (HRV) matter?

As you slow your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, and ease muscle tension, you’ll get instant feedback on the screen. Eventually, you’ll learn how to control these functions on your own, without the biofeedback equipment. During a biofeedback session, electrodes are attached to your skin. Alongside these sessions, a person may practice additional exercises at home to enhance the effects. For example, the biofeedback therapist may give them relaxation techniques or mental exercises to try.

These devices may attach to your body and interact with your smartphone to give you feedback about your heart rate, respiration, or blood pressure. Thermal biofeedback uses temperature sensors attached to your body. These provide you feedback about the temperature of your body, and you can work to gain control over your skin and body temperatures. The goal of neurofeedback for anxiety is to prevent the inhibition of alpha waves in the brain. These techniques reduce beta frequencies to promote deep relaxation and sleep.

Therapies

The Brain Boy Universal Professional medical device helped participants control their symptoms at various difficulty levels. After therapy, 90% experienced mild to moderate anxiety, nearly 6% had medium severe anxiety, and 3.5% had Biofeedback Therapy severe anxiety. Spend some time examining the claims, which are often highly exaggerated and not supported by research.

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• Neurofeedback therapy focuses on low and high frequencies, or theta and beta.
• After each therapy session, your therapist will discuss your progress, set goals, and assign activities to help you improve your skills in between sessions.
• Electrodes are placed on the scalp in the areas of the brain where you wish to receive feedback.
• To find a qualified biofeedback provider in your area, contact an organization like the Association for Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback.
• However, Heart Rate Variability is affected by everything from your mindset to air quality, to age, and exercise patterns.

People with high amounts of stress or conditions that worsen due to stress tend to benefit the most from biofeedback and neurofeedback therapy. Through simple techniques, you can learn to reduce stress-related symptoms quickly. Biofeedback therapy is a nondrug treatment in which people learn to control bodily processes that are usually involuntary, such as muscle tension, blood pressure, or heart rate. You may not realize it, but when you have pain or are under stress, your body changes. Your heart rate may increase, you may breathe faster, and your muscles tighten.

During a biofeedback session, a healthcare provider uses noninvasive monitoring equipment and instruments to measure your body’s involuntary functions. This includes things like your heart rate, breathing and muscle tension. Based on feedback from the instruments, your provider suggests how you can create voluntary (conscious) changes for these mostly involuntary functions.

Biofeedback is often considered a type of training rather than a treatment. With training and practice, biofeedback can be used to help people develop new skills that may help them to better cope or perform. It may be used for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), epilepsy, and other seizure disorders. However, a 2024 review of previous research notes other studies in which the benefits persisted for up to 2 months afterwards.

When combined with cognitive behavioral therapy, neurofeedback can help you gain control over your sleep patterns. The first are those used by medical and mental health professionals. The second are those available on the consumer market for personal use. Remember that most of the devices you see available for purchase have not been evaluated for safety or effectiveness by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Neurofeedback involves utilizing electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain wave activity.

It represents the synchronicity of two important parts of your autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic). Higher synchronicity between these two systems means higher synchronization between your heart and mind. Then, your guide can ask you to imagine a peaceful or pleasant situation. During the session, you may be asked to imagine your feelings and how your body feels while experiencing the emotions related to the imagery. Take a deep breath in, and then contract a muscle group, like your calves, in your legs.

Benefits of Biofeedback Therapy

• Small sensors that measure your skin’s electrical activity are used during GSR training.
• Managing a chronic medical condition can be frustrating, and dealing with side effects of medicines and treatments can leave you feeling tired and fatigued.
• Although the technique does seem to lower blood pressure slightly, biofeedback isn’t as effective as medication for blood pressure control.
• There is some evidence that heart rate variability biofeedback might be useful for a number of different disorders including asthma and depression.
• Spend some time examining the claims, which are often highly exaggerated and not supported by research.

Gaining voluntary control of some of these involuntary functions may help treat conditions like chronic pain, anxiety, or constipation. Biofeedback therapy can help you gain control of involuntary impulses in your body. Biofeedback is an alternative therapy that helps you take control of certain involuntary bodily functions, like your heart rate and breathing. It can help manage conditions like chronic pain, anxiety and incontinence. When you arrive, your therapist will apply sensors to your body that can measure heart rate, brain activity, or breathing. Then your therapist will guide you in a specific mental activity involving meditation, imagery, or breathing exercises.

Department of Veterans Affairs, many veterans suffer from migraines and tension headaches. They found biofeedback to be an effective treatment by aiding in parasympathetic nervous system activation, decreasing tension and other migraine symptoms. Technology is advancing rapidly, and there will be many more devices and tools to monitor health and offer biofeedback in the future.

How often should I do biofeedback therapy?

Those with problems affecting both the internal and external sphincter, such as failure or tears, did not benefit. This can depend on the condition a person has and how they respond to biofeedback. Eventually, the person learns how to control these processes without the need for monitoring. Your mental well-being is just as important as your physical well-being. Cleveland Clinic’s mental health experts can help you live life to the fullest. Providers who perform biofeedback should be certified by the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB) to use the therapy.