JOGO Health Private Limited,
1/1,11th Cross st., Shastri Nagar, Adyar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600020.
Biofeedback is the latest buzzword in the modern world of medicine. It is perceived as an effective treatment option for a wide variety of disorders and conditions.
The basic concept of biofeedback is to utilise brain and body activities to enhance awareness of internal changes, enabling better control over health.
JOGO Health offers biofeedback therapy in Bangalore for urinary incontinence, speech disorders, and chronic pain. How does biofeedback work, and what are its benefits? Our article answers this question as we delve deeper into the insights about this amazing therapy.
There’s still a lot to unearth about biofeedback. What we do know is that it promotes relaxation and helps relieve several stress-related conditions.
Different types of biofeedback are used to monitor different body functions:
Biofeedback collects information about your body’s involuntary actions, such as your blood pressure, heart rate, and skin temperature. Your nervous system controls these actions and responds to the circumstances you experience.
During a biofeedback session, your therapist attaches electrodes strategically to your body. They may also use finger sensors. Either way, these devices send real-time signals to a computer monitor. These signals come from your:
All these involuntary reflexes change when your mind or body is under stress. For example, when you have a panic attack, your heart rate and blood pressure increase, you start sweating, and your breathing quickens.
During the biofeedback session, you can observe these stress reactions as and when they happen and receive instant feedback as you attempt to control them with relaxation techniques and stress-relieving exercises. For example, your therapist may teach you relaxation techniques to minimise the brainwave activity that triggers migraines.
Biofeedback training techniques help you:
Each biofeedback session lasts about 30 minutes to an hour. Your doctor will decide on the number of sessions you will need. If you are considering using biofeedback to treat your medical condition, you should understand how you will benefit from it.
Doctors rely on rehabilitation to reeducate the muscle to start firing again, especially in patients with partial paralysis or Hemiplegia due to spinal cord injuries, stroke, or seizures.
In one such trial, the sensors were attached to the Tibialis Anterior of patients with Hemiplegia to monitor muscular activity. The patients who were able to assess the timing and quality of their ankle movements saw more improvement in their walking compared to those who only received traditional physiotherapy.
EMG biofeedback is commonly employed in combination with pelvic floor exercises to address Stress Urinary Incontinence. To treat this urinary incontinence issue, doctors use sensors on the lower abdomen or in the vagina to measure pelvic floor muscle tension. The sensors record the tension every time the floor muscles contract and transmit the information to a monitor.
Epilepsy causes seizures or sudden uncontrolled electrical disturbances that cause changes in behaviour, feelings, control over movements, and consciousness levels. Although medication is the most sought-after solution for epilepsy, it does not work on at least 30% of the patients.
In such cases, a type of biofeedback called Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) monitors the changes in skin conductivity. Using this data, GSR can help prevent epileptic seizures by increasing control and reducing emotional and physiological arousal that triggers seizures.
It creates changes in the areas of the brain associated with loss of consciousness, thereby preventing seizures. However, more research is needed to corroborate biofeedback’s role in preventing epileptic seizures.
Also Read : Exploring Gender Differences in Urinary Incontinence
A review and analysis published by Scientific Reports states that Heart Rate Variability biofeedback (HRV) may help minimise depression. The authors of this analysis state that less variation in the time between heartbeats can significantly increase the risk of depression.
In this scenario, HRV biofeedback can help individuals learn to control their breathing to induce positive changes in heart rate and variability. Therefore, a higher HRV can slowly decrease the symptoms of depression.
A study published in 2019 describes a single HRV biofeedback session performed on people with asthma. The participants underwent a stress test, after which their lung function was tested with a spirometry test. It was found that these patients achieved better results in their spirometry tests after receiving HRV biofeedback.
Biofeedback can help with stress and cognitive function. For this reason, it can benefit everyone, not only those with mental conditions. For some people, it can minimise stress and improve cognitive functioning. In this context, biofeedback helps you:
Apart from these research-based benefits, biofeedback is known for its ability to:
Biofeedback is slowly changing the frustration of dealing with medications and their side effects. It is proving a safer and more reliable way to connect with your mind and control your body’s natural responses to stress.
JOGO Health India offers biofeedback therapy for urinary incontinence, chronic pain, and speech disorders. Talk to our experts to learn how this therapy can modify your behaviour and help you return to normal activities.
JOGO Health Private Limited,
1/1,11th Cross st., Shastri Nagar, Adyar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600020.