“Biofeedback is a process that enables an individual to learn how to change physiological activity for the purposes of improving health and performance. Precise instruments measure physiological activity such as brainwaves, heart function, breathing, muscle activity, and skin temperature. These instruments rapidly and accurately "feed back" information to the user. The presentation of this informa
tion — often in conjunction with changes in thinking, emotions, and behavior — supports desired physiological changes. Over time, these changes can endure without continued use of an instrument.”
Biofeedback is a physiologically based learning tool to help people recognize how their physiologies are functioning under various circumstances. They can use this information to learn how to control those aspects that are not functioning optimally. With proper training, biofeedback can be used by professionals in many fields. Biofeedback is NOT used as a treatment alone, nor can it be used alone to make a diagnosis. Rather it is an adjunctive tool to be combined with other standard interventions carried out by knowledgeable clinicians, educators, or coaches. Biofeedback techniques tend to be known as often by the physiological systems they monitor as by the problems they are used to help. For example, when muscle tension is being monitored, people conducting biofeedback tend to refer to it as “SEMG feedback”. SEMG stands for “surface electromyogram”, which is the way muscle tension is normally recorded. When brain activity is fed back (shown to a client on a monitor, etc.), the process is usually called “neurofeedback”, EEG biofeedback, or brain wave training. Hundreds of well-controlled studies have shown that the signals usually recorded as the basis for performing biofeedback (such as muscle tension and brain waves) are related to the symptoms being addressed. The recording technology is standardized and is accepted within professional communities involved with making psychophysiological recordings. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and equivalent international bodies provide regulatory support for biofeedback equipment. Some devices used with biofeedback do not actually measure or feed back real-time information about a trainee. Instead, they send signals to entrain or stimulate the body's functioning. These devices do not provide biofeedback, whose hallmarks involve training and self-regulation. An example is audio-visual entrainment devices, which help entrain the brain's functioning by means of an external light and sound stimulus. Other devices may send a micro-current to influence hormone or neurotransmitter production or stimulate muscle activity or blood flow. Some of these devices label themselves as biofeedback devices but do not meet the legally accepted definition and characteristics.
