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Biofeedback is a process that enables an individual to learn how to change physiological activity for the purposes of improving health and performance. Precise instruments measure physiological activity such as brainwaves, heart function, breathing, muscle activity, and skin temperature. These instruments rapidly and accurately "feed back" information to the user. The presentation of this information — often in conjunction with changes in thinking, emotions, and behavior — supports desired physiological changes. Over time, these changes can endure without continued use of an instrument.
Approved May 18, 2008 by:
Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB)
Biofeedback Certification Institution of America (BCIA)
International Society for Neurofeedback and Research (ISNR)
Biofeedback is used by health care professionals trained in such areas as psychology, nursing, physical and occupational therapy, social work and counseling as part of treatments for many diagnosed disorders. These may include but are not limited to: anxiety, urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, constipation, migraine and tension headaches, ADHD, ADD, pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and more. Biofeedback may also be used by coaches and educators to help people function better.
Please go to the disorders section of the web site to find information on effectiveness of biofeedback based treatments including headache treatment, migraine treatment, tension headache treatment, urinary incontinence treatment, pain treatment, ADHD treatment, ADD treatment, anxiety treatment, and many others.
Biofeedback treatments work by teaching people to recognize how their bodies are functioning and to control patterns of physiological functioning. For example, biofeedback based urinary incontinence treatment works by helping people learn to control the pelvic floormuscles which prevent us from urinating when we don’t want to. Migraine headache treatments and tension headache treatments work by teaching people to control blood flow and muscle tension patterns which cause or start the headaches. ADHD and ADD treatments work by helping people change brain wave patterns associated with severity of these problems.
The disorders section of the web site explains why biofeedback treatment should be effective for each of the disorders listed and gives a summary of the published research studies supporting claims of effectiveness. The evidence supporting the use of biofeedback for headache treatment and migraine treatment is very strong. The evidence supporting the use of biofeedback for urinary incontinence treatment, pain treatment, ADHD treatment, and ADD treatment is quite strong.
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