Biofeedback

Biofeedback therapy is a learning experience that helps people gain control over unhelpful body responses to stress, injury and pain by working with therapists to develop specific, meaningful self-regulation skills and self-care strategies. At Courage Center, we help people focus on the how to transfer the skills they learn in biofeedback into their daily activities.

Biofeedback teaches people skills that enhance their body’s self-correcting, healing and pain-control through computerized visual and audio feedback.  People gain an awareness and control of:

• Muscle tension
• Skin temperature
• Skin conductance
• Other maladaptive and helpful psycho-physiological responses

In addition, therapists address the needs of people who are adjusting to changes in physical abilities and who are experiencing depression, anxiety or other issues.

Training Goals

• Through biofeedback, therapists help people:
• improve independent symptom control
• increase wellness behaviors
• improve functional abilities
• increase awareness and understanding of symptom dynamics, and contributing and challenging factors
• develop awareness, understanding and control of cognitive, emotional, physiological and behavioral responses to symptoms

Problems Addressed

Therapists provide help for people diagnosed with:

• Myofascial pain
• Fibromyalgia
• TMJ disorders
• Facial pain
• Neck, shoulder and limb pain
• Thoracic and low back pain
• Tension-type headaches
• Migraine headaches
• Sleep problems
• Repetitive stress injuries 
• Neuropathic pain 
• Chronic pain

Interventions

The usual course of biofeedback learning requires an average of five, one-hour sessions, which begin weekly and progress to bi-weekly.

Therapy includes:

• A physical therapy evaluation and biofeedback introduction
• Biofeedback-assisted relaxation and mindfulness training
• Biofeedback-assisted posture and movement training
• Pain management instruction
• Stress reduction and stress management 
• Coordinated care with psychotherapy
• Skills support

Biofeedback Training Objectives

• Independently demonstrate ability to decrease muscular tension throughout head region
• Independently demonstrate ability to decrease muscular tension throughout neck and shoulder region
• Independently demonstrate ability to decrease muscular tension throughout low back region
• Increase sense of control of symptoms
• Describe specific reliable strategies of brief (1-2 minutes) and extended (15 minutes) relaxation
• Demonstrate two posture and two movement strategies relevant to symptom management

* Most of this page is content used with permission of Mark Roa, MA, LP, senior fellow, Biofeedback Certification Institute of America.

Insurance Payments

Please check your insurance plan for biofeedback physical therapy coverage under CPT code 90901.  Some insurance plans do not cover biofeedback.