Training in the Gap Between Conditioning and Learning

Biofeedback intervention draws from multiple attitudes toward healing: mind-body medicine, behavioral psychology, sport psychology, experimental psychology, contemplative practices, and so forth. The most prominent approach is behavioral psychology. Following this psychological orientation, we use biofeedback instrumentation as a conditioning methodology. On the other hand, drawing from experimental psychology, the same instrumentation is used to achieve awareness. Awareness does not necessarily precede change. This article aims first to outline the difference between conditioning and learning and then introduce a session format that promotes learning.

A Case Report on Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback and Postconcussion Syndrome: Healing the Autonomic Nervous System

Postconcussion syndrome is a devastating condition of the mind, body, and even personality. Mounting research demonstrates that heart rate variability biofeedback can help the concussed individual in three critical ways: (a) eliciting high amplitude oscillations in cardiovascular functions and thereby strengthening self-regulatory control mechanisms; (b) restoring autonomic balance; and (c) increasing the afferent impulse stream from the baroreceptors to restore balance between inhibitory and excitatory processes in the brain.

Agonism and Antagonism of the Muscles of the Elbow Joint: An SEMG Approach

The relationship among the muscles of any joint such as the elbow joint reflects the range of motion energy expenditure of these muscles. It can be fairly stated that SEMG (surface electromyography) is a technology that enables the measurements of any muscle range of motion (ROM) and the synergism (agonism) and antagonism relationships among these muscles. The magnitude of the amplitude potentials of any motion of any muscle is relevant in the assessment of the total energy expenditure for any given motion in ergonomic terms and in clinical terms. The joints function best in terms of effectiveness and efficiency when any motion is performed with the least effort at the least fatigue potential. SEMG permits the measurement of the energy expenditure. Aside from the actual energy used, the relationships of any two muscles of the joint during the range of motion can be assessed in terms of correlation coefficients, thus enabling the clinician or ergonomist to evaluate the synergism or antagonism of the muscles in question for the ROM tested. Understanding the magnitude of the agonism and antagonism is highly relevant in ergonomics as well as in the process of rehabilitation of the muscles of any joint.

Reactivate Your Second Heart

Sitting or standing without moving the leg muscles puts additional stress on your heart, as blood and lymph pool in the legs. Tightening and relaxing the calf muscles can prevent the pooling of the blood. The inactivity of the calf muscles does not allow the blood to flow upward and may result in “sitting disease,” contributing to the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Activating the calf muscles as well as other leg muscles are strategies to support cardiovascular health. Thus, the calf muscles are sometimes called “our second heart.” The important function of our “second heart” is to act as a pump to return venous blood and lymph fluids upward, which can occur only when we interrupt sitting with many brief exercises by frequently standing up during the day. Suggestions regarding how to implement short breaks are included. Note that, medically, the term second heart refers to the cisterna chyli, which brings the lymphatic fluids up from the abdomen; however, in this article, second heart is used in a common popular sense of the term as the description of the calf muscle to pump the venous blood toward the heart.

Neurofeedback, Where Are We and Where Are We Going? Three Critical Issues for Consideration: Perspective from 25 Years of Practice

For those of you who do not recognize the Swingle name, I am a neuro-brat, generation 2.0. I did not find the field, the field found me, or rather was just there … I grew up with the clicking and flipping of switches and amusing myself soldering in my father's university lab, mostly wire sculptures, bracelets, and such (my mother was an artist, after all), but also the odd connection or two on what were then wall-to-wall computers. Being a neuro-brat also meant I matured professionally in the frenetic energy of innovative minds. It took 25 years or so, and some digressions into other fields, namely, art, fashion, and education, but I was eventually drawn in fully at a Winterbrain conference in the 1990s. These were fascinating years wherein I mostly observed and listened to the great minds that rooted us, great minds that clashed (as titans do) as much as they drove the profession forward. In these cerebral jousting matches, however, I fear many were left behind. Over time I have witnessed fewer and fewer people pick up the excitement of research and exploration and more wanting a road map, finding the paths of their forefathers and foremothers (our pioneers) harder than expected to follow. As this brilliant first generation slowly leaves us to retirement and beyond (the Budzynskis, Tooman, Judith Lubar, Michael Thompson, Stu Donaldson, Larry Klein, Joe Kamiya, and a few more), their legacies should be accessible and foundations strong for us to continue to build upon. It might also be time to put down the swords, to address conflicts that no longer push us forward before we fracture further, not through loss of persons, but loss of standards, knowledge, and skill. To preserve and move neurotherapy forward, three things are critical for our discipline to address: (1) conflict and division, (2) the red herring of the double-blind imperative and its little cousin the placebo effect, and (3) perhaps most important, practice and equipment standards.