BIOFEEDBACK NEWS

BIOFEEDBACK NEWS

May 30, 2000
NASA biofeedback training helps patients with chronic upper GI problems
By Sherry Kahn

SAN DIEGO, May 30 (Reuters Health) - A training procedure developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that helped astronauts with motion sickness is effective for people

on Earth who have gastrointestinal motility disorders, researchers reported here last week at the Digestive Disease Week meeting.

Dr. Hani M. Rashed, of the University of Tennessee in Memphis, and colleagues provided 59 patients with autogenic feedback training (AFTE), a type of biofeedback that teaches people how to control autonomic nervous system responses. The patients had various gastrointestinal motility disorders, with symptoms that included nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, bloating, anorexia and early satiety.

The patients attended eight AFTE sessions over an 8-week period and were followed for as long as 16 months. In between the sessions, patients were instructed to practice at home for 10 minutes a day. Each session was divided into alternating cycles of stimulation followed by relaxation. "These alternating cycles build stability in the autonomic nervous system, just as switching between contraction and relaxation builds muscle strength," Dr. Rashed explained in an interview with Reuters Health.

After four sessions, all gastrointestinal symptoms had significantly decreased. A larger decrease in total symptoms was noted after eight sessions. The researchers also noted a continued reduction in symptoms for patients who continued with the therapy for 11 or 15 sessions. "NASA is planning to offer AFTE sessions through teleconferencing so that people living in rural areas can benefit from this effective, noninvasive technique," Dr. Rashed told Reuters Health.