When your child experiences chronic pain, it can cause him/her to experience emotional pain as well.
For example, your child may feel anxious about when the pain will go away or "bummed" about not being able to enjoy a "normal" life. These emotional pain can also contribute to worsening physical pain, leading to a negative spiral.
After all, the pain can take control of your child's body and mind almost completely...
Naturally, you, as parents, want to do everything you can to "fix" and rescue your child. However, you may feel helpless at times when you can't resolve his/her problems.
If you are one of those parents, don't give up. There is hope.
Today I would like to talk about one of effective treatment for chronic medical and psychological conditions - Biofeedback therapy.
What is Biofeedback?
Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB) states, "biofeedback is a process... to learn how to change physiological activity for the purpose of improving health and performance."
Simply put, Biofeedback therapy is a way for your child to regain control of his/her body and get rid of pain (or other conditions) through a specific training.
How does Biofeedback work?
Your child will be connected to non-invasive sensors on the body, and the sensors are connected to a biofeedback device (transducer). This device measures your child's body functions such as heart rate, breathing speed and pattern, temperature, brain waves, and muscle tension.
The information that are measured from your child's body are shown on a computer screen in realtime so that your child can tell how his/her body is doing when stressed or relaxed.
For instance, if your child is experiencing constant headache, then his breathing pattern may be shallow and fast. Additionally, his neck and shoulder may be tight.
During Biofeedback sessions, he is given gentle cues and guidance so that he can learn how to breathe "low and slow" through his belly. He will also be learning how to consciously relax his muscle. Ultimately, he will learn how to "let go" of his pain and discomfort.
The great thing about biofeedback is that he can see the immediate result of success when he is controlling his body consciously.
Sometimes I use simple age appropriate games to facilitate the child's engagement level, but many times, they just like to watch the actual graphs and numbers on how their body is doing!
Why is Biofeedback training important?
Here is an analogy I use with families when they ask me about biofeedback.
When we look in a mirror, we can see our crazy hair and can "correct" the hair if we want to. Biofeedback training is almost like having a mirror for your internal body function so that you can "fine tune" the function, which will result in getting rid of uncomfortable pain and/or anxiety. Biofeedback is a great way to learn how to feel calm and focused even when your child is feeling stressed.
Here is a bonus point of biofeedback therapy. The skills your child learns through biofeedback training can be used to enhance his/her performance and more importantly, build self-confidence!
Can Biofeedback help with anxiety?
Absolutely! Biofeedback is used to treat so many different issues - anxiety, sleep disturbance, headache, migraine, hypertension, brain injury, lower blood pressure, constipation, to name a few .
Conclusion
Biofeedback therapy is a method to treat various medical and psychological conditions, such as headache, migraine, anxiety, insomnia, constipation, among others. The Biofeedback device will check your body functions - heart rate, breathing, temperature, muscle, brain wave, etc. Biofeedback training will help you heal your physical and mental conditions and restore your normal life.
Please feel free to contact me at info@yourpediatricpsych.com for more questions or a free 15-minute initial conversation.
Until next time...be well:)