Biofeedback is a treatment technique in which people are trained
to improve their health by using signals from their own bodies.
Physical therapists use biofeedback to help stroke victims regain
movement in paralyzed muscles. Psychologists use it to help tense
and anxious clients learn to relax. Specialists in many different
fields use biofeedback to help their patients cope with pain.
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 arrhythmia (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.
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