Alternative Therapies For Asthma Treatment -- Biofeedback Holds

Are there effective alternative therapies for asthma? Many researchers
believe biofeedback holds promise as a way to help asthma patients.
What is biofeedback all about? It involves measuring a person's body
processes like heart rate, blood pressure, galvanic skin response, etc
and providing this information to the person in real time. This
creates awareness of these processes and in turn, can help the person
gain conscious control over related body functions. For instance,
scientists have shown that a person can consciously influence his
heartbeat. In fact, some studies at the National Institutes for Health
have indicated that patients can be trained even to lower their blood
pressure. Biofeedback training is part of what is called complementary
and alternative medicine (CAM). It was Dr. Neal Miller, a
neuroscientist at Yale who first said that it is possible to exert
conscious control over automatic body functions. The scientific and
medical establishment of the time scoffed at his statement and held
that such things are impossible. However, subsequent research by
several groups has shown that control over unconscious body functions
is indeed possible. Many patients have found relief from migraine
using biofeedback training. Some researchers are studying the
possibility of using biofeedback as the main treatment for high blood
pressure problems. How does biofeedback apply to asthma? During an
asthma attack, the muscles around the airways are inflamed and
contracted. If these muscles can be relaxed, air would flow more
freely into the lungs and the distressing symptoms of asthma would be
alleviated. Biofeedback systems train the patient to accomplish just
that. In addition, asthma patients often have abnormal breathing
patterns. The Society for Applied Psychotherapy and Biofeedback says
that 'barrel breathing' is one such pattern. This is when the
asthmatic takes in a deep breath and then doesn't fully breathe out.
Instead, they take several shallow in and out breaths without emptying
their lungs completely. As a result, their lungs can't be refilled
with fresh air since they never empty fully when breathing out. Using
a process called pneumographic biofeedback, asthma patients learn to
recognize their altered heart rates that occur during barrel
breathing. And they learn to change their breathing pattern to lower
their heart rate as well as improve oxygen intake. Some studies have
concluded that this type of biofeedback treatment not only reduced the
symptoms of asthma but also brought down lung inflammation and
resistance to normal breathing. The heart beat variability biorhythm
treatment has also resulted in lowered medication use and better
pulmonary function. The National Institutes of Health advices asthma
patients who wish to use biofeedback training to work with a competent
trainer and to keep their doctor fully informed. The latter is
important because asthma patients should be monitored regularly and
medication may need to be adjusted from time to time. Published at:
http://www.isnare.com/?aid=59594&ca=Medicines+and+Remedies