What are the symptoms experienced by a chronic pain patient?
There are a variety of repercussions on the chronic pain patient at various levels. From a physical point of view there is a tendency to feel a level of muscular tension with a feeling of exhaustion and tiredness. At the level of thought, there are constantly intrusive thoughts that make him/her think that this situation will never really end. There is a decrease in activities from the social point of view, feeling that there is little support from family or friends, a lot of fear and dread, and also the repercussions from the emotional point of view, feeling of sadness, discouragement and anxiety.
What types of treatments are available?
The International Society for the Study of Pain, the American and the Spanish societies recommend an integral treatment, that is to say bio-psycho-social, where the patient is treated as a whole and not only a part of the injured body. Mind and body work in unison, so this consideration must be taken into account. A number of techniques from the psychological point of view have been scientifically documented in studies. We can mention some of them, among them, very important would be the techniques of physiological activation. On the other hand, breathing retraining, support techniques from the emotional point of view, cognitive restructuring and, very important, are the biofeedback techniques.
What are biofeedback techniques?
With biofeedback techniques we can know how the patient responds physiologically to situations of tension or concern and teach him/her to control those variables that are altered in stressful situations as a response to these stressful situations. In order to perform the biofeedback techniques, we need electromedical equipment that allows us to measure different physiological variables such as temperature, muscle tension, electrodermal response and respiration through sensors. Little by little, through a learning process, the patient will be able to learn to voluntarily control these variables so that his body functions in a better way and pain is reduced.
What disorders can you treat?
There are a variety of disorders that we can treat through biofeedback techniques. All those that have to do with stress management, anxiety and pain pathologies. Among them we can mention cervical pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, muscular pain, dorsal pain, back pain, pathologies such as fibromyalgia, sleep disorders… All this variety of diseases we can manage with excellent results through biofeedback techniques.
How many sessions are necessary?
With the biofeedback techniques a total of 9 to 12 sessions are planned, with a weekly frequency and a duration of each session of between 40 and 50 minutes. In this way, the patient will progressively acquire physiological control of all those variables that were affected at the time. It is important the follow-up and control sessions that will be done on a monthly and biannual basis in order to verify the patient’s improvement. With all these techniques from the point of view of psychology, we are sure to have a favorable impact and greater well-being in life from the emotional, physical and social point of view.