What is biofeedback and how it can help my pain?

Many pain problems are aggravated by excessive muscle tension which can strain joints, restrict blood vessels, and irritate nerves in addition to causing muscle strain. Learning to relax affected muscles can help alleviate the pain. However, most people are not aware of excess muscle tension because it feels “normal” to them. Biofeedback is a technique used to help people become aware of muscle tension and then learn to relax the affected muscles. Small sensors that measure muscle tension are placed on the skin over the affected area. Information from the sensors goes into a computer and the computer screen shows the patient how tensed or relaxed the muscle is. The patient is then taught specific relaxation exercises and the computer helps the patient know when the exercise is helping to relax the muscle. Because the sensors simply lay on the skin surface the process is absolutely pain-free. You can expect about 8-10 weekly sessions in order to learn biofeedback and benefit from the process.