Biofeedback VS Neurofeedback: What's the Difference?

Biofeedback Explained

Biofeedback is a treatment that uses a device to help the body measure what it's doing and then feeds that information back to the body. Quite often it involves using some sort of electronic device with wires or leads that are placed somewhere on the body. That reading is some sort of physiological information that the body is giving off, and then feeding that information back to the body. Sometimes it's active or passive, meaning that the patient has a role to play or something that they need to do, and sometimes the device is just communicating with the body while the patient is sitting there calmly. The primary difference between neurofeedback biofeedback is that when the device is placed on the head, it is called neurofeedback, and anything that happens below the head, the rest of the body, is biofeedback. That's the most essential difference between the two.

In neurofeedback, there are a lot of different types. Some of them have all sorts of leads coming out of a cap and many different wires on the head—that's not the type we use at Revive. We use a type that involves one or two wires only, simultaneously on the head, and perhaps some ear clips at the end. There are no more than a few wires coming off of the head while it's reading brainwave activity, then feeding that information back to the brain in order to help the brain make balanced and positive changes. The essential difference there is that neurofeedback is going to have, the focus is going to be on the head, biofeedback is basically anywhere other than the head—we would put the leads somewhere on the body, such as the abdomen, the chest an arm or a leg, wherever it's indicated for the treatment.

What are the Uses of Biofeedback?

A common use for biofeedback is pain or dysfunction in the body. It's wonderful for helping to reset stuck pain patterns or chronic pain. It's wonderful to help speed up healing. It can also be used over the heart center for somebody who's experiencing anxiety or tension.

Leads can also be placed on the abdomen for digestive issues: constipation, gas, and bloating in the gut. It can also just be placed on the shoulders for general tension—anywhere that there is muscle tension, trigger points, etc… Different places where we can put the leads are on ankles, any joint really that's painful, any muscle that is painful—it's wonderful for that. Quite often, even though we might be treating pain, some patients experience a decrease in their stress and anxiety. Even if we're treating, say the knee, for example.

Passive or Active Treatments?

Here at Revive, we used systems of neurofeedback and biofeedback that are considered passive, meaning that the patient does not need to do anything while they're receiving the treatment. Traditionally, a lot of neurofeedback devices require that the patient pay attention to a screen or some sort of monitor. They are the ones looking at the feedback that they're getting from the device, and then actively helping to make changes. Whereas with the devices that we used here, there's no expected work on the part of the patient. They can just sit back and relax while we're helping the body to make those adjustments internally and on its own.

So why do we choose a passive versus an active approach to biofeedback and neurofeedback at Revive?

The short answer is that it allows the body to heal itself. Going more in-depth into that: I don't profess to know what a patient's body truly needs, and I believe in the natural healing ability that all of our bodies have. I also believe that our bodies are infinitely wiser than I can ever be and that the body really knows what it needs—sometimes it needs just a little bit of nudge or adjustment in moving in that direction.

So we have adopted a passive approach because it falls in line with our philosophy as Naturopathic Doctors: the body is wise and knows how to heal itself with just a little help and nudge in the right direction. The passive approach accomplishes just that, and it's really quite wonderful because the device isn't the thing healing the patient, it's the patient's own body that does the healing.

How Long are Treatments?

The duration of the treatment for both the biofeedback and neurofeedback treatments that we do in this clinic are quite short. Generally, they're just seconds long, perhaps to minutes, but usually less than a minute.

Thanks for reading this quick article about biofeedback and neurofeedback and their various uses at our clinic. If there are any questions that I didn't answer, please, don't hesitate to call our clinic and schedule a free phone call consult with me, and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you still have.

Shockwave Therapy: Forearm Pain and Hand Pain

Shockwave Therapy by Doctor Derek Lawrence - a licensed Naturopathic Doctor. In this video Doc Derek treats an avid climber, carpenter, and woodworker. Shockwave Therapy works by transmitting energy into tissues to reduce inflammation, heal, repair, and mute pain for chronic injury. Treat carpal tunnel syndrome, climbing injury, sports injury, carpentry, woodworking, work injuries, and more naturally with this type of therapy.

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Derek: [00:00:00] Hey everyone. Dr. Derek Lawrence here at revive naturopathic medicine. And today we're doing a COVID edition. I'm going to show you guys some shockwave therapy with Randy here today. I'll give you a little insight into the case. Randy you're in construction and woodworking avid climber.

[00:00:21] Randy: [00:00:21] I am.

[00:00:21] Derek: [00:00:21] Yeah. So what we're dealing with is that it's actually a forearm kind of hand and wrist issue.

[00:00:27] Were there's some acute kind of shooting pain, especially when there's contraction and holding wood up. Correct? All right. Um, there've been some previous injuries to the hand, um, ligaments from climbing. Uh, but today we're going to take a look at this, do a brief physical exam and then do a shockwave treatment on Randy's hand, wrist and forearm.

[00:00:48] And so we can see how it's going to respond to that. Alright, so let's talk about shockwave for a second. Um, this is the probe we use. And if you can tell there's a little kind of pneumatic what we call piston at the very end of this and this piston moves in and out with some force. And that force is then transmitted into the tissue that you're treating.

[00:01:08] So in Randy's case, it's going to be his forearm to the wrist and into the hand. So why does this matter? What therapeutic benefit does this give? When you think about this, think about dropping a pebble into a pond, right? And when you do that, you see the kind of where drops in and then the ripples that move out from the side of it.

[00:01:28] So that's exactly what's happening with shockwave as well. We're actually transmitting energy into those tissues. Why that matters is because this actually has been shown to reduce inflammation, improve growth factor presence. So it helps you heal and repair faster. And it seems to actually mute pain as well.

[00:01:46] So all three of those things are going to help one: your forearm feel better and two: help it repair faster, especially if there is a chronic injury.

[00:01:55] So just so you know, Randy, uh, this treatment should last about maybe 10, 15 minutes. Um, that said we are going to treat it relatively large area here.

[00:02:04] Um, so the total treatment time, probably 10 to 15 minutes there. Most people feel benefit like right away, It'll feel looser. It'll feel a lot like there's a greater range of motion. Uh, and of course, if there is acute pain, which in your case, it's kind of intermittent, right? So you'll be able to tell probably later down the road as are using it, a lot of people, especially if there's chronic pain, they're noticing that improvement while they're walking out the door.

[00:02:30] that said, I tend to recommend to kind of weekly treatments for three to five weeks, depending on how long the problem has been there. And then just how it's progressing, moving forward.

[00:02:41] All right, Randy. So we're going to get going, first we're gonna put some ultrasound gel on and that's just to lubricate the probe.

[00:02:48] So we're going to start off by treating right up here where your forearm flexors insert into your arm here. And this is called your medial epicondyle. And I know from our physical exam, we kind of pushed on this area and it's a little tender, right?

[00:03:03] Randy: [00:03:03] It is.

[00:03:04] Derek: [00:03:04] So you can put your arm and let it rest on your leg there. And we'll put a little ultrasound gel here. So it's going to be loud because there's actually a lot of,  kind of noise being made by the machine to make that pneumatic piston move.

[00:03:19] Randy: [00:03:19] Alright.

[00:03:19] Derek: [00:03:19] And the ways is going to go is we're going to start at a relatively low intensity and as long as it's tolerated, we will move that up. What I tell people is that it maybe uncomfortable, but it shouldn't hurt.

[00:03:31] Right? We're not trying to cause a pain. So, but as you can tell, but even by palpating kind of gently, and there there's some tenderness in there, so it may be a little uncomfortable, but it shouldn't hurt or make the problem worse. We're going over bone, we're going over muscle ligament, tendon. So a variety of different tissues here.

[00:03:48] So of course we can't go very aggressive over bone it'll hurt. So we'll turn it down when we're around there. Any other regions we're gonna kind of modulate the intensity of it based on your tolerance level. Okay. So let's, let's get started.

[00:04:08] So as you can see, it's pretty low.

[00:04:10] Randy: [00:04:10] Do you want it up a little more?

[00:04:12] I can definitely do a little more. Yeah.

[00:04:27] [Music]

[00:04:27] Derek: [00:04:27] So the focus of energy is one: soft and two: not nearly as kind of targeted. And so the energy doesn't go as deep into the tissues. So it feels nice. It's just a very like superficial treatment and that it doesn't mean it's bad. It can actually be super useful and you can cover a broader area with those. If most of what you're dealing with is like muscle, tension, muscle tightness, blood flow, lymph movement.

[00:04:54] It's great. I got nothing against them, but if you're truly looking towards like tendon healing, Ligamentous healing, which are much more stubborn tissues to heal. Your theragun is not going to be this give you nearly the same therapeutic benefit. And I also can't necessarily comment on it's like peer review, like research literature, where there's a decent amount on shockwave therapy.

[00:05:16] You've heard of carpal tunnel syndrome before, right? So there's a big fiberous sheath that all of your, Forearm flexors, go on your knees right here. Sometimes that can get a little, you can get some adhesions in there, especially if there's been injury or climb or chronic overuse. Most of the time, the people who get a carpal tunnel syndrome, they get it from overuse injuries. Bad Kind of posture working at a computer all the time or repetitive motions of really something we were not designed to do, or in a kind of ergonomic and incorrect way.

[00:05:49] So we'll treat over there a little bit and then we'll get into what's called your Thenar eminence your big fat thumb muscle.

[00:05:55] Randy: [00:05:55] Yeah, okay

[00:05:57] Derek: [00:05:57] For lack of a better term.

[00:06:00] Randy: [00:06:00] What does carpal tunnel feel like?

[00:06:03] Derek: [00:06:03] A lot of times pain and numbness in your hand again, your median nerve. So a lot of times, these fingers right here.

[00:06:12] So you get numbness like all through your hand, cause the nerves aren't like...

[00:06:22] usually it spares your pinkey and sometimes your ring finger, cause that's your Ulnar nerve

[00:06:23] Randy: [00:06:23] Oh So the carpal tunnel goes to these fingers there.

[00:06:24] Derek: [00:06:24] A lot of times, yeah.

[00:06:30] Randy: [00:06:30] Yeah, right in there, that area's pretty tender.

[00:06:33] Derek: [00:06:33] Not painful, just a little uncomfortable?

[00:06:35] Randy: [00:06:35] Just uncomfortable.

[00:06:41] Derek: [00:06:41] And that's where you said the focus of some of the accute pain kind of starts.

[00:06:47] Randy: [00:06:47] Especially when I'm pinching stuff, yeah

[00:06:52] Derek: [00:06:52] Can you handle a little intensity there?

[00:06:55] Randy: [00:06:55] In there, yeah. If you start getting closer to like my wrist, it will be a little much.

[00:07:00] Derek: [00:07:00] Yeah, but right here we can? Our palms are pretty durable.

[00:07:05] Randy: [00:07:05] Yeah. It's been pretty beat up.

[00:07:22] Derek: [00:07:22] Alright, so we're done with the treatment. Now I'm going to put a little bit of like anti-inflammatory pain cream on there. non-medicated you may feel like tonight, tomorrow kind of like you got hit by a Mack truck.

[00:07:35]Randy: [00:07:35] Just in my arm?

[00:07:36] Derek: [00:07:36] Yeah, just in your arm, but keep in mind. Right. There's there's definitely, There's definitely some like some trauma to that tissue it's actually to stimulate the growth factor.

[00:07:46] So, we'll check in probably tomorrow and then a couple of days down the road, just to see how it's doing, how it's feeling. And especially after you get a little bit of use into it. So just know that the next kind of 72 hours were really going to be the timeframe in which I'm interested to see kind of how it improves.

[00:08:03] And then, like I said, we'll see you again next week.

[00:08:07] Randy: [00:08:07] Is there anything I should be doing in the next 72 hours to help it to rehab?

[00:08:11] Derek: [00:08:11] No, you don't. I mean, I would encourage you to like, not like overuse it. Yeah. You know, but just no, go about your daily, you know, your daily work and outside of that, you don't need to ice it. You don't need to take any pain medication. you know, that's what kind of, one of the benefits of it is that there's no downtime with this we want to see how it's going to perform. In your kind of normal day to day basis.

[00:08:42] Alright, there you go. So we'll see you next week.

[00:08:44] Randy: [00:08:44] Cool. Thank you very much.