Biofeedback VS Neurofeedback: What's the Difference?

Biofeedback Explained

Biofeedback is a treatment that uses a device to help the body measure what it's doing and then feeds that information back to the body. Quite often it involves using some sort of electronic device with wires or leads that are placed somewhere on the body. That reading is some sort of physiological information that the body is giving off, and then feeding that information back to the body. Sometimes it's active or passive, meaning that the patient has a role to play or something that they need to do, and sometimes the device is just communicating with the body while the patient is sitting there calmly. The primary difference between neurofeedback biofeedback is that when the device is placed on the head, it is called neurofeedback, and anything that happens below the head, the rest of the body, is biofeedback. That's the most essential difference between the two.

In neurofeedback, there are a lot of different types. Some of them have all sorts of leads coming out of a cap and many different wires on the head—that's not the type we use at Revive. We use a type that involves one or two wires only, simultaneously on the head, and perhaps some ear clips at the end. There are no more than a few wires coming off of the head while it's reading brainwave activity, then feeding that information back to the brain in order to help the brain make balanced and positive changes. The essential difference there is that neurofeedback is going to have, the focus is going to be on the head, biofeedback is basically anywhere other than the head—we would put the leads somewhere on the body, such as the abdomen, the chest an arm or a leg, wherever it's indicated for the treatment.

What are the Uses of Biofeedback?

A common use for biofeedback is pain or dysfunction in the body. It's wonderful for helping to reset stuck pain patterns or chronic pain. It's wonderful to help speed up healing. It can also be used over the heart center for somebody who's experiencing anxiety or tension.

Leads can also be placed on the abdomen for digestive issues: constipation, gas, and bloating in the gut. It can also just be placed on the shoulders for general tension—anywhere that there is muscle tension, trigger points, etc… Different places where we can put the leads are on ankles, any joint really that's painful, any muscle that is painful—it's wonderful for that. Quite often, even though we might be treating pain, some patients experience a decrease in their stress and anxiety. Even if we're treating, say the knee, for example.

Passive or Active Treatments?

Here at Revive, we used systems of neurofeedback and biofeedback that are considered passive, meaning that the patient does not need to do anything while they're receiving the treatment. Traditionally, a lot of neurofeedback devices require that the patient pay attention to a screen or some sort of monitor. They are the ones looking at the feedback that they're getting from the device, and then actively helping to make changes. Whereas with the devices that we used here, there's no expected work on the part of the patient. They can just sit back and relax while we're helping the body to make those adjustments internally and on its own.

So why do we choose a passive versus an active approach to biofeedback and neurofeedback at Revive?

The short answer is that it allows the body to heal itself. Going more in-depth into that: I don't profess to know what a patient's body truly needs, and I believe in the natural healing ability that all of our bodies have. I also believe that our bodies are infinitely wiser than I can ever be and that the body really knows what it needs—sometimes it needs just a little bit of nudge or adjustment in moving in that direction.

So we have adopted a passive approach because it falls in line with our philosophy as Naturopathic Doctors: the body is wise and knows how to heal itself with just a little help and nudge in the right direction. The passive approach accomplishes just that, and it's really quite wonderful because the device isn't the thing healing the patient, it's the patient's own body that does the healing.

How Long are Treatments?

The duration of the treatment for both the biofeedback and neurofeedback treatments that we do in this clinic are quite short. Generally, they're just seconds long, perhaps to minutes, but usually less than a minute.

Thanks for reading this quick article about biofeedback and neurofeedback and their various uses at our clinic. If there are any questions that I didn't answer, please, don't hesitate to call our clinic and schedule a free phone call consult with me, and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you still have.

Introducing Dr. Brian Myers: Functional Medicine Doctor in California

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Dr. Brian Myers - Intro

Kellie - Marketing: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. This is Kellie at revive naturopathic medicine. I'm the marketing manager here and I am today with dr. Derek and dr. Brian Myers. We wanted to go ahead and introduce dr. Brian today and talk a little bit about the patients you see, what your approach is, and a little bit more about yourself.

[00:00:30] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:00:30] Well, let me start first because I want to give everybody a little understanding of,  why we're even talking with dr. Meyers today.  Brian and I have known each other for probably what. Almost close to 10 years now?

[00:00:46] Dr. Brian Myers: [00:00:46] I'd say so. Yeah, it sounds about right.

[00:00:49] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:00:49] And,  with, you know, dreams of,  you know, dreams of teaming up for a long time and,  more recently we got actually an opportunity to actually make that a reality.

[00:01:01] And that's been really fun, not only just from a colleague standpoint, but also, you know, checking a box off and saying like, Hey, we did it right. And, and for, you know, the folks at Revive,  some of you may recognize Brian's face. I mean, you may not.  Part of the reason is, is he's been kind of behind the scenes in a couple of our other projects, one,  our practice out in Bakersfield, which we happen to have the clinic of Sunrise Natural Medicine.

[00:01:31] So Brian's been out there seeing patients, and he'll tell you more about that as well as,  Most of our revive patients know that the,  naturally medical,  kind of director at Vera Aia, which is an all inclusive fitness and wellness retreat here in Carlsbad. And,  Brian also works there. So he's there one week a month right now, of course, you know, we've, we've kind of been closed due to COVID however, our,  opening date is in the near future.

[00:02:01] So I'm looking forward to that. And so Brian's also been participating, there working at the retreat and it's been even a valuable asset there. So that's why his face may look familiar may or may not look familiar, but he's been around for actually quite a while,  at Revive and in my life even longer.

[00:02:19] But,  I wanted to take this opportunity, Brian, for, you know, our patient base as a whole to really get to understand you know, how you got into medicine,  you know, how, you know, what your practice looks like, what do you love treating?  And you know, a little bit more about you. So, you know, I'll, I'll turn the mic over to you and,  maybe ping you on a couple of questions I want to know about.

[00:02:44] Dr. Brian Myers: [00:02:44] Sure. Thanks for the intro, both of you Kellie and dr. Derek.  That's right. I've been around for what seems like forever. I'm older than dirt. I've been living in California for a few years now. I was out in the Coachella Valley for awhile and, recently moved into LA and that's right between Carlsbad and Bakersfield.

[00:03:06] And so it's worked out really well to,  contribute from those areas. I also do a bit of telemedicine for some of our patients here in LA,  and that's been good too.  yeah, I got into medicine.  My family has been in medicine, so I always had that. I had good role models growing up.  I had my own  health issues,  in high school that kind of compelled me towards wanting to help others and understand more about,  our anatomy and physiology and what makes those things work.

[00:03:37] And,  then I taught for a while and all of that kind of lent itself to, you know, one of our core tenants is naturopathic doctors is to be teachers and here I am just teaching in a different capacity,  about really, really neat and interesting things that,  continue to  change.

[00:03:53] So,  that's just a little bit about how I came into this world and how I ended up here.

[00:03:59] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:03:59] Right. Brian, you know, what's unique and,  Kellie, I'm sure you'll catch this too.  Both, or all of us, me, you and Emma, all had parents in medicine.

[00:04:16] Dr. Brian Myers: [00:04:16] That's really interesting.

[00:04:17] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:04:17] And I didn't know that about Emma before we actually had, you know, our round table with her.  I know you well and I know your  dad,  who't the doc in the family. I think it's really kind of unique that  we ended up kind of coalescing here, because I know how intimately your, you know, upbringing in medicine,  has impacted how you operate today.  I was really interesting to learn how Emma's impact, how she offers it. And I know every single patient visit I come in bringing,  wisdom from my dad, who is the doc,  into those visits.

[00:05:03] And,  it's an interesting trend because I don't think like that is,  if I, if I recall back to NCNM or NUNM now, where we went to naturopathic medical school, I don't recall that being, I know, I know there are definitely people who had parents in medicine, but I don't recall that being as kind of stark of a trend, like three out of three, you know, as,  as we find it, the clinic here. And that's maybe why I think I gravitated towards, you know, when I, when I'm looking and reaching out for like who can help at the clinic there, maybe that's a little  subconscious,  trait that I have found to,  surround myself.

[00:05:44] Dr. Brian Myers: [00:05:44] Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, we had a lot of support from both the conventional and traditional medical standpoint, and I think that's really helped keep me balanced as a practitioner. I've I've  had a great luxury to be able to collaborate with my dad, you know, to bounce ideas off of him. And also my sister, who's a PA and like, you know, that's really lovely and I enjoy getting questions from them and, and like, The worlds that they practice in are similar and also very different.

[00:06:12] Yeah. And,  and, and that's just been really helpful because we have patients sometimes that like, I, I sometimes don't know what to do, and that's a great part about like the human body and learning, which never ends. And, and it's just nice to have those resources, in your family and also not in your family.

[00:06:31] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:06:31] Right. So I call, I call my dad sometimes my pocket radiologist. You know, we get a decent amount of, you know, diagnostic imaging. Right. But at the end of the day, I get my information from the reports and the report is only as good as the person doing the scan and the person reading the scan.

[00:06:50] And I've learned that from, you know, from, from being related to a radiologist. And so like, there are times in which I'll maybe need to get a specific type of scan done and be like, Hey, what do I actually have to put here to get the results I want to look? And the cool thing is this, like on the little message right behind the scenes.

[00:07:05] And I get exactly what I need or on the flip side of that, when you have these findings for like, Okay, well, nothing like is egregious here, but like there's a, B and C happening. And like, what does that mean? Like, how do we like connect those dots with that symptom?  Again, another little pocket dial to, you know,  the pocket radiologist and I can get some insight and, you know, that's been helpful at times for my patients, I think just a value that like we get to pass on as a luxury. I'm just kind of by default.

[00:07:42] Dr. Brian Myers: [00:07:42] Yeah. Yeah. It's been really nice. We've had good collaboration as naturopaths among naturopathic doctors, but extending that into,  some of the other disciplines.... it's just, it's an, it's a lovely luxury.

[00:07:54] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:07:54] Well, yeah, it has. And I think that, I mean, it's part of the reason why,  you know, I think we got on well together is that it's created a balance in the way in which we talk to our patients. Like I, I've literally been beside you talking to patients and,  it's something that I really appreciate about your, your bedside manner.

[00:08:20] The way you explain problems is it's very similar to me and, and I like that. I find personally it's a, it's a real digestible way.  so. That's you know, that's, that's a tip of the hat to you.

[00:08:36] Dr. Brian Myers: [00:08:36] Thanks.

[00:08:37] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:08:37] Yeah.

[00:08:38] Kellie - Marketing: [00:08:38] Brian, could you talk a little bit about,  The type of patient that you generally see, or if I'm somebody coming to the Revive website and I'm looking for a doctor who am I that's coming to you, Dr. Brian?

[00:08:53] Dr. Brian Myers: [00:08:53] Sure. Yeah. As Naturopathic Doctors,  I mean, or just as me specifically, I guess I've,  And, and maybe it's just a part about the, where I've been practicing, but I've seen a lot of people for hormone replacement therapy,  a lot of GI issues, and I think that's not location specific. I think that's more specific to everybody. I think a lot of people end up with gut health issues. Anyway, autoimmune  conditions too,  seem to be,  an area that I've had a lot of experience with. And,  Yeah, I think those are some big areas, metabolic issues,  cardio metabolic disease,  any sort of like trending towards,  MI risk or stroke or even diabetes, all of those kinds of like pathologies of excess.

[00:09:43] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:09:43] That's an interesting way of putting it "pathologies of excess."

[00:09:49] Dr. Brian Myers: [00:09:49] Well, I mean, It's not outside of the realm to kind of look at some at not outside of their normal possibility to look at them that way. I mean,  a lot of times it's, it's too much food, too much, too much of "the good life."

[00:10:06] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:10:06] Yeah. Right. That's breaking them down. Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to store that one for later. Thank you.

[00:10:14] Dr. Brian Myers: [00:10:14] Sure.

[00:10:24] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:10:24] Most of us Brian are putting stuff out on the internet, videos, blogs, et cetera. Right. Know you're writing content.  and yeah, we,  pop some of that up,  on our revive site here, but where else can people,  where else can people find you?

[00:10:56] Dr. Brian Myers: [00:10:56] Yeah.  I have a website (www.doctormyersnd.com) I can be found on Twitter on  Instagram at @DoctorMyersND.  So those are kind of the, the best ways to find me and then on the Revive website, of course.

[00:11:13] Dr. Derek Lawrence: [00:11:13] Perfect. Sounds good.  thanks so much for just taking the time. I know our patients are going to be, watching this to kind of learn a little bit more about you. And I look forward to having another one of these in the future.

Shockwave Therapy: Forearm Pain and Hand Pain

Shockwave Therapy by Doctor Derek Lawrence - a licensed Naturopathic Doctor. In this video Doc Derek treats an avid climber, carpenter, and woodworker. Shockwave Therapy works by transmitting energy into tissues to reduce inflammation, heal, repair, and mute pain for chronic injury. Treat carpal tunnel syndrome, climbing injury, sports injury, carpentry, woodworking, work injuries, and more naturally with this type of therapy.

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Derek: [00:00:00] Hey everyone. Dr. Derek Lawrence here at revive naturopathic medicine. And today we're doing a COVID edition. I'm going to show you guys some shockwave therapy with Randy here today. I'll give you a little insight into the case. Randy you're in construction and woodworking avid climber.

[00:00:21] Randy: [00:00:21] I am.

[00:00:21] Derek: [00:00:21] Yeah. So what we're dealing with is that it's actually a forearm kind of hand and wrist issue.

[00:00:27] Were there's some acute kind of shooting pain, especially when there's contraction and holding wood up. Correct? All right. Um, there've been some previous injuries to the hand, um, ligaments from climbing. Uh, but today we're going to take a look at this, do a brief physical exam and then do a shockwave treatment on Randy's hand, wrist and forearm.

[00:00:48] And so we can see how it's going to respond to that. Alright, so let's talk about shockwave for a second. Um, this is the probe we use. And if you can tell there's a little kind of pneumatic what we call piston at the very end of this and this piston moves in and out with some force. And that force is then transmitted into the tissue that you're treating.

[00:01:08] So in Randy's case, it's going to be his forearm to the wrist and into the hand. So why does this matter? What therapeutic benefit does this give? When you think about this, think about dropping a pebble into a pond, right? And when you do that, you see the kind of where drops in and then the ripples that move out from the side of it.

[00:01:28] So that's exactly what's happening with shockwave as well. We're actually transmitting energy into those tissues. Why that matters is because this actually has been shown to reduce inflammation, improve growth factor presence. So it helps you heal and repair faster. And it seems to actually mute pain as well.

[00:01:46] So all three of those things are going to help one: your forearm feel better and two: help it repair faster, especially if there is a chronic injury.

[00:01:55] So just so you know, Randy, uh, this treatment should last about maybe 10, 15 minutes. Um, that said we are going to treat it relatively large area here.

[00:02:04] Um, so the total treatment time, probably 10 to 15 minutes there. Most people feel benefit like right away, It'll feel looser. It'll feel a lot like there's a greater range of motion. Uh, and of course, if there is acute pain, which in your case, it's kind of intermittent, right? So you'll be able to tell probably later down the road as are using it, a lot of people, especially if there's chronic pain, they're noticing that improvement while they're walking out the door.

[00:02:30] that said, I tend to recommend to kind of weekly treatments for three to five weeks, depending on how long the problem has been there. And then just how it's progressing, moving forward.

[00:02:41] All right, Randy. So we're going to get going, first we're gonna put some ultrasound gel on and that's just to lubricate the probe.

[00:02:48] So we're going to start off by treating right up here where your forearm flexors insert into your arm here. And this is called your medial epicondyle. And I know from our physical exam, we kind of pushed on this area and it's a little tender, right?

[00:03:03] Randy: [00:03:03] It is.

[00:03:04] Derek: [00:03:04] So you can put your arm and let it rest on your leg there. And we'll put a little ultrasound gel here. So it's going to be loud because there's actually a lot of,  kind of noise being made by the machine to make that pneumatic piston move.

[00:03:19] Randy: [00:03:19] Alright.

[00:03:19] Derek: [00:03:19] And the ways is going to go is we're going to start at a relatively low intensity and as long as it's tolerated, we will move that up. What I tell people is that it maybe uncomfortable, but it shouldn't hurt.

[00:03:31] Right? We're not trying to cause a pain. So, but as you can tell, but even by palpating kind of gently, and there there's some tenderness in there, so it may be a little uncomfortable, but it shouldn't hurt or make the problem worse. We're going over bone, we're going over muscle ligament, tendon. So a variety of different tissues here.

[00:03:48] So of course we can't go very aggressive over bone it'll hurt. So we'll turn it down when we're around there. Any other regions we're gonna kind of modulate the intensity of it based on your tolerance level. Okay. So let's, let's get started.

[00:04:08] So as you can see, it's pretty low.

[00:04:10] Randy: [00:04:10] Do you want it up a little more?

[00:04:12] I can definitely do a little more. Yeah.

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[00:04:27] Derek: [00:04:27] So the focus of energy is one: soft and two: not nearly as kind of targeted. And so the energy doesn't go as deep into the tissues. So it feels nice. It's just a very like superficial treatment and that it doesn't mean it's bad. It can actually be super useful and you can cover a broader area with those. If most of what you're dealing with is like muscle, tension, muscle tightness, blood flow, lymph movement.

[00:04:54] It's great. I got nothing against them, but if you're truly looking towards like tendon healing, Ligamentous healing, which are much more stubborn tissues to heal. Your theragun is not going to be this give you nearly the same therapeutic benefit. And I also can't necessarily comment on it's like peer review, like research literature, where there's a decent amount on shockwave therapy.

[00:05:16] You've heard of carpal tunnel syndrome before, right? So there's a big fiberous sheath that all of your, Forearm flexors, go on your knees right here. Sometimes that can get a little, you can get some adhesions in there, especially if there's been injury or climb or chronic overuse. Most of the time, the people who get a carpal tunnel syndrome, they get it from overuse injuries. Bad Kind of posture working at a computer all the time or repetitive motions of really something we were not designed to do, or in a kind of ergonomic and incorrect way.

[00:05:49] So we'll treat over there a little bit and then we'll get into what's called your Thenar eminence your big fat thumb muscle.

[00:05:55] Randy: [00:05:55] Yeah, okay

[00:05:57] Derek: [00:05:57] For lack of a better term.

[00:06:00] Randy: [00:06:00] What does carpal tunnel feel like?

[00:06:03] Derek: [00:06:03] A lot of times pain and numbness in your hand again, your median nerve. So a lot of times, these fingers right here.

[00:06:12] So you get numbness like all through your hand, cause the nerves aren't like...

[00:06:22] usually it spares your pinkey and sometimes your ring finger, cause that's your Ulnar nerve

[00:06:23] Randy: [00:06:23] Oh So the carpal tunnel goes to these fingers there.

[00:06:24] Derek: [00:06:24] A lot of times, yeah.

[00:06:30] Randy: [00:06:30] Yeah, right in there, that area's pretty tender.

[00:06:33] Derek: [00:06:33] Not painful, just a little uncomfortable?

[00:06:35] Randy: [00:06:35] Just uncomfortable.

[00:06:41] Derek: [00:06:41] And that's where you said the focus of some of the accute pain kind of starts.

[00:06:47] Randy: [00:06:47] Especially when I'm pinching stuff, yeah

[00:06:52] Derek: [00:06:52] Can you handle a little intensity there?

[00:06:55] Randy: [00:06:55] In there, yeah. If you start getting closer to like my wrist, it will be a little much.

[00:07:00] Derek: [00:07:00] Yeah, but right here we can? Our palms are pretty durable.

[00:07:05] Randy: [00:07:05] Yeah. It's been pretty beat up.

[00:07:22] Derek: [00:07:22] Alright, so we're done with the treatment. Now I'm going to put a little bit of like anti-inflammatory pain cream on there. non-medicated you may feel like tonight, tomorrow kind of like you got hit by a Mack truck.

[00:07:35]Randy: [00:07:35] Just in my arm?

[00:07:36] Derek: [00:07:36] Yeah, just in your arm, but keep in mind. Right. There's there's definitely, There's definitely some like some trauma to that tissue it's actually to stimulate the growth factor.

[00:07:46] So, we'll check in probably tomorrow and then a couple of days down the road, just to see how it's doing, how it's feeling. And especially after you get a little bit of use into it. So just know that the next kind of 72 hours were really going to be the timeframe in which I'm interested to see kind of how it improves.

[00:08:03] And then, like I said, we'll see you again next week.

[00:08:07] Randy: [00:08:07] Is there anything I should be doing in the next 72 hours to help it to rehab?

[00:08:11] Derek: [00:08:11] No, you don't. I mean, I would encourage you to like, not like overuse it. Yeah. You know, but just no, go about your daily, you know, your daily work and outside of that, you don't need to ice it. You don't need to take any pain medication. you know, that's what kind of, one of the benefits of it is that there's no downtime with this we want to see how it's going to perform. In your kind of normal day to day basis.

[00:08:42] Alright, there you go. So we'll see you next week.

[00:08:44] Randy: [00:08:44] Cool. Thank you very much.

Virtual Health Summit 2020

2020 Health Summit

Doctor Derek: Immune Regulation Through Gut Health

Video: