Published: February 28, 2008 11:25 am      

Biofeedback puts patients in touch with inner-selves

“My mind went into warp factor,” remembers Gloria Falls of the day she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “I was so scared.”

With an innovative program offered by Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Center, the now cancer-free Falls learned to quell that fear and the anxiety that could hamper her recovery with added torments from headaches to gastrointestinal ills.

“We were willing to try anything out there that would help us that didn’t involve pain or a shot,” said Cynthia Crawford, Falls’ daughter and devoted caretaker.

The “anything” that helped both mother and daughter through the array of challenges presented by the diagnosis was biofeedback.

Falls and Crawford are the first benefactors of a grant to Floyd Memorial from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization. Offered at the Cancer Center of Indiana in New Albany, the program helps breast cancer patients and their caregivers to use biofeedback along with therapeutic massage to reduce the powerful impact of anxiety and stress.

Developed in the 1940s and long acknowledged as effective by agencies as diverse as our nation’s military and professional sports teams, biofeedback is still considered by many to be an “alternative” approach. It operates on the premise that by becoming aware of involuntary bodily functions, such as breathing and pulse rate, people can bring them under our control and better the mindframe along with physical health.

Noninvasive sensors attached to fingers or the face transmit information to a biofeedback monitor, which provides real-time auditory or visual feedback about what’s going on inside the body.

For instance, a beep might sound when muscles tense or the pulse quickens. Once people are aware of the “stress response,” they are able to counteract its effects. Research shows that once a person learns the technique, they tend to be able to control involuntary functions with no sensors attached.

Muscle spasms, migraines, insomnia, incontinence, hypertension, chronic pain and other afflictions of body and mind are among the ills biofeedback has been shown to help.

“The goal for the breast cancer program is to help the cancer patient face a stressful diagnosis and treatment regimen, and to help her loved one help her to do so, even as she copes with her own ‘caregiver stress,’” says Krystal Angevine, director of social services at Floyd Memorial and one of two certified biofeedback clinicians in Floyd County.

Any breast cancer patient undergoing radiation therapy or her caregiver is eligible.

“I enjoy working with these remarkable women,” says Angevine, who calls biofeedback “a sixth sense.”

“The best recommendation is that patients don’t give up hope.”

Caregiver Crawford, 42, with a demanding job as a Wal-Mart store manager, was skeptical about the technique’s effectiveness outside the quiet confines of the clinic.

“At work, I’d have debilitating leg cramps that I didn’t even know were stress-related,” she said. “Krystal taught me how to de-stress and stop the pain in places and at times when I didn’t think it was possible.”

“There is a misconception that stress is all in the brain,” says Angevine, who also counsels patients at private practices in New Albany and Louisville. “By teaching your body to respond in ways that are the opposite of the stress response, you can change its chemistry and reduce the stress.”