What is Biofeedback?

Biofeedback is a means for relieving pain, gaining control of our body processes to increase relaxation, and develop healthier, more comfortable life patterns.

Biofeedback gives us information about ourselves by means of external instruments. Using a thermometer to take our temperature is a common kind of biofeedback.

Clinical biofeedback follows the same principle, using specialized instruments to monitor various physiological processes as they occur. Moving graphs on a computer screen and audio tones that go up and down "reflect" changes as they occur in the body system being measured.

Biofeedback training familiarizes us with the activity in our various body systems so we may learn to control this activity to relieve stress and improve health. Many stress-related illnesses (e.g., headaches, TMD/TMJ syndrome, low back pain) are due to overactivation of physiological systems in response to stressful events.

Although we are often not aware that these responses are occurring, they can have a cumulative negative effect on our health. If we can change these responses, we can eliminate much discomfort and illness and enhance our general quality of life.

Trying to change physiological activity without biofeedback is like playing darts while blindfolded--we can’t see whether we are hitting the mark or not. Biofeedback lets us know when we are changing our physiology in the desired direction.

Biofeedback is not a treatment. Rather, biofeedback training is an educational process for learning specialized mind/body skills. Learning to recognize physiological responses and alter them is not unlike learning how to play the piano or tennis--it requires practice. Through practice, we become familiar with our own unique psycho-physiological patterns and responses to stress, and learn to control them rather than having them control us.

Bio-integration involves learning the relationships between various psychophysiological systems. The NYU Pain Management Center protocol is unique in that it allows patients to train in multiple modalities that are not offered elsewhere. Through Bio-integration, patients are empowered to approach life situations in a variety of ways, choosing the most appropriate responses to particular events.

Biofeedback Training

Biofeedback training can provide relief from a number of stress-related medical illnesses, including headache,hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome, TMD/TMJ, and chronic pain due to muscle spasm, nerve injury, or vascular insufficiency. Anxiety responses and insomnia, can also be addressed through biofeedback. In addition, biofeedback is used to explore specialized states of awareness, enhance meditation, promote psychological development, and generally improve the quality of life.

At the NYU Pain Management Center, the mind/body systems measured in biofeedback training include temperature, muscle tension, sweat gland activity, heart rate, breath rate, and brain waves. Patients work toward specific goals in each system, usually beginning with the system most directly related to the
presenting complaint.

During the patient’s first visit, a comprehensive evaluation is done to provide baseline information about his or her psychophysiological activity. This involves measuring the patient’s activity in the various systems for thirty minutes. This time is divided into five minutes eyes closed, five minutes eyes open, fifteen minutes of discussion, and five minutes of self-soothing. The patient and practitioner can then decide which modality to focus on first, and set training goals.

The second and subsequent sessions are devoted to training, in which the patient learns to influence psychophysiological activity by relaxing rather than "trying" through conscious effort.

As the patient becomes more practiced at self-regulation, the skills learned in the training sessions and during home practice become generalized to everyday life. The patient can recognize increasingly subtle stress responses and choose to respond more healthily. Eventually, these healthier responses become habitual, and the patient can meet the challenges of life in a more productive way.