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.

Chances are you have used biofeedback yourself. You've used it if you have ever taken
your temperature or stepped on a scale. The thermometer tells you whether you're
running a fever, the scale whether you've gained weight. Both devices "feed back" informa
tion about your body's condition. Armed with this information, you can take steps you've
learned to improve the condition. When you're running a fever, you go to bed and drink
plenty of fluids. When you've gained weight, you resolve to eat less and sometimes you
do

The biofeedback machine acts as a kind of sixth sense which allows you to
" see" or "hear" activity inside our bodies. One commonly used type of machine, for
example, picks up electrical signals in the skin. It translates these signals into a form
that we can detect: It triggers a flashing light bulb, perhaps, or activates a beeper every
time we grow more tense. If we want to relax tense muscles, they try to slow
down the flashing or beeping.

Like a pitcher learning to throw a ball across a home plate, the biofeedback trainee, in an
attempt to improve a skill, monitors the performance. When a pitch is off the mark, the
ballplayer adjusts the delivery so that he performs better the next time he tries. When the
light flashes or the beeper beeps too often, the biofeedback trainee makes internal
adjustments which alter the signals. The biofeedback therapist acts as a coach, standing at
the sidelines setting goals and limits on what to expect and giving hints on how to
improve performance.

How is Biofeedback Used Today?

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 arrhythmias (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

How Does Biofeedback Work?

Scientists cannot yet explain how biofeedback works. Most patients who benefit from
biofeedback are trained to relax and modify their behavior. Most scientists believe that
relaxation is a key component in biofeedback treatment of many disorders, particularly
those brought on or made worse by stress.
Their reasoning is based on what is known about the effects of stress on the body. In brief,
the argument goes like this: Stressful events produce strong emotions, which arouse
certain physical responses. Many of these responses are controlled by the sympathetic
nervous system, the network of nerve tissues that helps prepare the body to meet
emergencies by "flight or fight."

The typical pattern of response to emergencies probably emerged during the time when all
humans faced mostly physical threats. Although the "threats" we now live with are
seldom physical, the body reacts as if they were: The pupils dilate to let in more light. Sweat
pours out, reducing the chance of skin cuts. Blood vessels near the skin contract to reduce
bleeding, while those in the brain and muscles dilate to increase the oxygen supply. The
gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach and intestines, slows down to reduce the
energy expensed in digestion. The heart beats faster, and blood pressure rises.
Normally, people calm down when a stressful event is over especially if they have done
something to cope with it. For instance, imagine your own reactions if you're walking
down a dark street and hear someone running toward you. You get scared. Your body p
repared you to ward off an attacker or run fast enough to get away. When you do escape,
you gradually relax.

If you get angry at your boss, it's a different matter. Your body may prepare to fight. But
since you want to keep your job, you try to ignore the angry feelings. Similarly, if on the
way home you get stalled in traffic, there's nothing you can do to get away. These situations
can literally may you sick. Your body has prepared for action, but you cannot act.
Individuals differ in the way they respond to stress. In some, one function, such as blood
pressure, becomes more active while others remain normal. Many experts believe that
these individual physical responses to stress can become habitual. When the body is
repeatedly aroused, one or more functions may become permanently overactive. Actual
damage to bodily tissues may eventually result.

Biofeedback is often aimed at changing habitual reactions to stress that can cause pain or
disease. Many clinicians believe that some of their patients and clients have forgotten how
to relax. Feedback of physical responses such as skin temperature and muscle tension
provides information to help patients recognize a relaxed state. The feedback signal may
also act as a kind of reward for reducing tension. It's like a piano teacher whose frown
turns to a smile when a young musician finally plays a tune properly.