Biofeedback The New Pain Stopperalternative To Medications
These days, there is a lot of interest in alternative methods of improving and restoring health. There are many people who have become disillusioned by the high cost of mainstream medical care and the lack of viable solutions to their problems. For some, their primary motivation is finding ways to eliminate the use of prescribed drugs in order to avoid the negative side effects. Because of this trend, biofeedback is an option that is gaining attention and a greater following.
Biofeedback, which is also known as neurofeedback, has proved an effective therapy for a number of different conditions, but it is most often used as a pain relief for ailments such as headaches, migraines and other chronic pain conditions. A biofeedback treatment provides the patient with information from the body about how it is operating and reacting to different conditions. With this type of feedback, the person can better understand their body’s reactions and take steps to change.
In over 40 years of biofeedback use, it has a sterling record for safety and lack of side effects. In many cases this holistic treatment is utilized in conjunction with relaxation techniques and the result of this combined approach is reported to be very successful at lowering levels of stress. As a person’s stress is reduced, so are many of the risk factors of numerous health concerns.
In addition to being used for pain relief, biofeedback therapists are also able to address many other health conditions with varying degrees of success. Some of the other common conditions that have been effectively treated though neurofeedback treatments are epilepsy, attention deficit disorder (ADD), hyperactivity and incontinence. In addition, this non-invasive treatment is often very helpful in rehabilitation after stroke or injury and can even help people to break the bonds of addictive behaviors, such as drug addiction and alcoholism.
Biofeedback therapy is a technique that uses mechanical feedback to teach people how to relax, even in stressful situations. Over time, many people are able to train themselves to control blood pressure, breathing, muscle tension and other bodily functions, through the use of painless electrodes that give on-the-spot feedback through graphs, beeps and flashing lights.
During a neurotherapy session, a biofeedback machine is used that monitors the patient’s brain wave activity and displays the readings on a screen. With the help of a trained technician, the person can learn what relaxation techniques produce the desired responses and can observe these responses through the readout on the machine. With time and practice, a person can eventually learn how to achieve the desired changes, even without the use of the device to provide the feedback.
As a patient becomes more aware of their body and its responses to the biofeedback techniques, they become more sensitive to the internal signals their body is providing. This increased awareness and sensitivity, combined with practice, is what allows a person to gain the same benefits of neurofeedback therapy, even when the neurofeedback equipment is not available to confirm the changes within the body.
While it can appear to be so, the fact is that biofeedback therapy is not a “magic bullet.” Practitioners of biofeedback will be quick to point out that neurotherapy will not “cure” diseases, nor will it “make” a person healthy. What it can do, and does do with a high degree of success, is give people the tools to take more control over their bodily functions and, as a result, they are able to help their bodies to become stronger, healthier and better able to recover from or avoid disease and illness.
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