biofeedback corte madera

Biofeedback programs

For stress-related pain disorders like:

  • Chronic back pain
  • Muscles pain
  • Tension headaches
  • Quality of sleep
  • Migraines
  • Depression and anxiety

      What Is Biofeedback?

      It is a mind-body technique involving auditory, visual, or vibrational feedback that allows you to gain control over involuntary bodily functions.

      Biofeedback training can increase your ability to successfully cope with stress. During a session, you are connected to electrical sensors that collect information about your current physiological state and display data on a screen. This feedback increases your awareness of how your body sensations are related to your response to stress. It also helps you find effective ways to access a relaxation response when you need it most and achieve your goal, such as reducing pain. Some of the functions that you can learn to control are:

       

      • Pain perception
      • Blood flow
      • Blood pressure
      • Heart rate
      • Muscle tension

      How Does It Work?

      This program teaches people to track the physical signs and symptoms of stress and anxiety, such as increased muscle tension, heart rate, and body temperature. With this new awareness, they are more effective at managing unhealthy levels of stress. Since stress is at the core of many complex health conditions, Biofeedback has a solid track record in improving the quality of their lives.

      What is a typical session like?

      • Electrical sensors will be connected to your chest
      • These sensors will be connected to the Lief device, which will provide feedback on your physiological responses.
      • Your therapist will guide you through different exercises that may involve relaxation methods, including mental, meditation, visualization, or breathing.
      • As you perform these activities, you will monitor your real-time feedback from the app on your smartphone.

      What Kind Of Programs do you offer?

      Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback. I use the Lief Smart Patch in my office. The Lief Patch is attached by electrodes on your ribs just below your heart. The data is then broadcasted to an app on a smartphone. The readout can then measure the effectiveness of the stress relief techniques you are practicing. The Lief is designed for office and home use.

        What is Heart Rate Variability? HRV is measured by the time interval between heartbeats. A healthy heart does not beat evenly. Instead, when looking at the pauses between heartbeats, there is constant variation. In general, we are not consciously aware of this variation. HRV is different from heart rate measured in beats per minute. Instead, it will increase and decrease depending on your responses to your daily experiences. Heart rate variability is a measurement of our physiological response to our environment.

         

        You can experience your HRV by feeling your pulse on your wrist while taking a few deep breaths. The interval between beats gets longer when you exhale (heart rate slows) and shorter when you inhale (heart rate speeds up, a phenomenon called respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). In addition to respiration, HRV is influenced by exercise, hormonal reactions, metabolic processes, cognitive processes, stress, and recovery.

        What is the connection between HRV and your autonomic nervous system? Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls your HRV and its sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. It is commonly considered an accurate non-invasive measurement of autonomic nervous system activity and, therefore, your level of stress.

         

        In healthy individuals, HRV should increase during relaxing activities, for example, meditation or sleep, when the parasympathetic nervous system should dominate. On the other hand, HRV naturally decreases when you are stressed. The elevated sympathetic activity gets your body ready for action. Typically your HRV is higher when the heart is beating slowly and lower when the heart starts to beat faster, for example, during stress or exercise. HRV will tend to remain low even during stressful events and activities for individuals with superior health and fitness levels.

        In-office and home program – This program lasts for 8 weeks or more, with a rental device shipped to you. It requires weekly 50-minute sessions in-office or on ZOOM with Michael. Also included are accessible daily practices for you to do on your own; those will be programmed into your wearable Lief device. In these weekly sessions, I will guide you in the use of the Lief Smart Patch, remotely monitor your stress cycles, and explain what the data means. Finally, I will train you in highly effective stress management techniques, including therapeutic breathing.

        Clients who have completed the program have shown significant improvement in the following areas:[1] (( (1) Dana L Frank, Lamees Khorshid, Jerome F Kiffer, Christine S Moravec, and Michael G McKee. Biofeedback in medicine: who, when, why, and how? June 2010. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2939454/ (accessed January 24, 2020)

        • Pain intensity and frequency
        • Ability to focus
        • Overall health
        • Performance at work/sports
        • Emotional control
        • Impulse control/decision making.

         

        Would you like to learn if the home program can help you? Email me at [email protected] to schedule a free 15-minute ZOOM or phone consult.

        Would you like to get started on the home program? Fill out these two forms Intake form and BBCSS form. Then schedule yourself for a 50 Min Intake/New Client Session click here or call 415-924-2323 Ex.1.

         

          Fee structure:

          Home program: $1995 for the initial eight weeks

          Additional Sessions: $240 per each 50-minute ZOOM session

          Location:

          The office is located in Corte Madera, Marin County, California.

          What Does It help?

          Biofeedback training is used to help manage many physical and mental health issues, including:

          • Anxiety or stress
          • Asthma
          • Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
          • Chemotherapy side effects
          • Chronic pain
          • Fibromyalgia
          • Headache
          • High blood pressure
          • Irritable bowel syndrome
          • Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
          • Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ)

          Many people are drawn to this treatment because it is:

          • Non-invasive.
          • May reduce or eliminate the need for medications.
          • May enhance the benefits of drugs.
          • May help women who can’t take medication during pregnancy.
          • Helps people feel more control over their health.

            Different Approaches

            Here are some other forms of treatment that are not offered at Michael Westgate Therapy but might be of interest to you:

            Brain Wave Biofeedback. Also called neurotherapy or neurofeedback, helps teach better self-regulation skills in people with stress-related disorders. In most cases, sensors are placed on the scalp to measure brain activity, with measurements and feedback from video displays or sounds. Neurofeedback is a non-invasive treatment for ADHD, pain, addiction, anxiety, depression, and other stress-related disorders.

             

            In his book, The Body Keeps The Score, Dr. Van der Kolk describes his struggle to find viable treatments for people with complex trauma conditions. He claims that the standard therapies for trauma and PTSD are ineffective for people with complex PTSD (also known as developmental trauma). The book includes the story of a patient with severe developmental PTSD and multiple personality disorder. Van der Kolk describes how she was tried conventional approaches with no results and how neurofeedback turned her life around. She went from being significantly challenged in her relationships and daily tasks, a person who could barely function in the world, to become productive and fulfilled in her life. Dr. van der Kolk says that many of the traumatized patients he treated with neurofeedback recovered the capacity to live a fulfilling life.

             

            Respiratory involves monitoring breathing rates and patterns wearing sensor bands around the chest and abdomen. With practice, people can learn more significant control over their breathing rates, which can help in various conditions, including anxiety.

             

            Blood Pressure involves wearing a device that measures your blood pressure. These devices provide information about your blood pressure and sometimes guide the user in relaxation techniques. These techniques can include breathing exercises, music, or visual cues.

             

            Galvanic skin response or skin conductance is a useful measurement for detecting emotional arousal levels. This type of program measures the amount of sweat on the surface of the skin. Emotional stimulation can also easily trigger sweating. The more people are aroused, the stronger the sweat response.

            Skin Temperature involves wearing sensors that detect blood flow to the skin. Often people experience a drop in body temperature during times of stress. These devices can help people see when they are starting to feel overloaded. A low reading may indicate a need to utilize some stress management techniques.

             

            Muscle Tension requires sensors placed at various points on the body and connected to an electromyography (EMG) device. The EMG device detects muscle tension changes over time by monitoring the electrical activity involved in muscle contractions.

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