The Minitor AR-5™ is a smart, PC-linked monitor incorporating wrist-worn surface iEMG, Standard and high sensitivity GSR, standard and high sensitivity Thermal channels.
EMG integrates dry gold sensing electrodes and electronics for low-noise, high-resolution amplification and processing of surface integrated EMG. A wrist-worn monitor contains the signal processing, the belt clip box contains an optical fiber PC serial interface.

Features

• EMG
• GSR
• High-sensitivity GSR
• Peripheral temperature
• High-sensitivity Peripheral temperature
• Single GSR/Thermal sensor
• Fiber optics for absolute safety
• PC Software - Polygraphic Display/Record/Playback software
• Compact, lightweight and user-friendly. Low cost.
• Saves electrodes expense
• Needs no messy electrodes gel
• No more electrodes falling-off.
• Batteries included.

Specifications:

• EMG: Surface integrated (iEMG) 25.5uV average full scale; 100-200Hz Bandwidth;
• 0.1 uV resolution; includes 3 dry gold sensor electrodes
• GSR: 2.5Megohms full scale, 10K resolution, includes dry sensor
• ASR: Auto-baseline GSR: 50Kohm full scale, 200 ohm resolution
• Temperature: 15-40.2 deg. C absolute, 0.1 deg. C resolution
• Temperature, High sensitivity (0.005 deg. C resolution)
• Sensor unit size approx. 7 X 4 X 2 cm, weight approx. 25 grams.
• Belt clip box includes PC interface and 2X AA alkaline batteries (included).

Biofeedback is a treatment technique in which people are trained to improve their health by using signals from their own bodies. Physical therapists use biofeedback to help stroke victims regain movement in paralyzed muscles. Psychologists use it to help tense and anxious clients learn to relax. Specialists in many different fields use biofeedback to help.

Chances are you have used biofeedback yourself. You've used it if you have ever taken your temperature or stepped on a scale. The thermometer tells you whether you're running a fever, the scale whether you've gained weight. Both devices "feed back" informa tion about your body's condition. Armed with this information, you can take steps you've learned to improve the condition. When you're running a fever, you go to bed and drink plenty of fluids. When you've gained weight, you resolve to eat less and sometimes you do.

Clinicians reply on complicated biofeedback machines in somewhat the same way that you rely on your scale or thermometer. Their machines can detect a person's internal bodily functions with far greater sensitivity and precision than a person can alone. This information may be valuable. Both patients and therapists use it to gauge and direct the progress of treatment.

For patients, the biofeedback machine acts as a kind of sixth sense which allows them to "see" or "hear" activity inside their bodies. One commonly used type of machine, for example, picks up electrical signals in the muscles. It translates these signals into a form that patients can detect: It triggers a flashing light bulb, perhaps, or activates a beeper every time muscles grow more tense. If patients want to relax tense muscles, they try to slow down the flashing or beeping.

Like a pitcher learning to throw a ball across a home plate, the biofeedback trainee, in an attempt to improve a skill, monitors the performance. When a pitch is off the mark, the ballplayer adjusts the delivery so that he performs better the next time he tries. When the light flashes or the beeper beeps too often, the biofeedback trainee makes internal adjustments which alter the signals. The biofeedback therapist acts as a coach, standing at the sidelines setting goals and limits on what to expect and giving hints on how to improve performance.

The Beginnings of Biofeedback

Clinical biofeedback techniques that grew out of the early laboratory procedures are now widely used to treat an ever-lengthening list of conditions. These include:

• Migraine headaches, tension headaches, and many other types of pain
• Disorders of the digestive system
• High blood pressure and its opposite, low blood pressure
• Cardiac arrhythmias (abnormalities, sometimes dangerous, in the rhythm of the
  heartbeat)
  
• Raynaud's disease (a circulatory disorder that causes uncomfortably cold hands)
• Epilepsy
• Paralysis and other movement disorders

Specialists who provide biofeedback training range from psychiatrists and psychologists to dentists, internists, nurses, and physical therapists. Most rely on many other techniques in addition to biofeedback. Patients usually are taught some form of relaxation exercise. Some learn to identify the circumstances that trigger their symptoms. They may also be taught how to avoid or cope with these stressful events. Most are encouraged to change their habits, and some are trained in special techniques for gaining such self-control. Biofeedback is not magic. It cannot cure disease or by itself make a person healthy. It is a tool, one of many available to health care professionals. It reminds physicians that behavior, thoughts, and feelings profoundly influence physical health. And it helps both patients and doctors understand that they must work together as a team.

Patients' Responsibilities

Scientists cannot yet explain how biofeedback works. Most patients who benefit from biofeedback are trained to relax and modify their behavior. Most scientists believe that relaxation is a key component in biofeedback treatment of many disorders, particularly those brought on or made worse by stress. Their reasoning is based on what is known about the effects of stress on the body. In brief, the argument goes like this: Stressful events produce strong emotions, which arouse certain physical responses. Many of these responses are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, the network of nerve tissues that helps prepare the body to meet emergencies by "flight or fight."

How Does Biofeedback Work?

Scientists cannot yet explain how biofeedback works. Most patients who benefit from biofeedback are trained to relax and modify their behavior. Most scientists believe that relaxation is a key component in biofeedback treatment of many disorders, particularly those brought on or made worse by stress. Their reasoning is based on what is known about the effects of stress on the body. In brief, the argument goes like this: Stressful events produce strong emotions, which arouse certain physical responses. Many of these responses are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, the network of nerve tissues that helps prepare the body to meet emergencies by "flight or fight."

The typical pattern of response to emergencies probably emerged during the time when all humans faced mostly physical threats. Although the "threats" we now live with are seldom physical, the body reacts as if they were: The pupils dilate to let in more light. Sweat pours out, reducing the chance of skin cuts. Blood vessels near the skin contract to reduce bleeding, while those in the brain and muscles dilate to increase the oxygen supply. The gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach and intestines, slows down to reduce the energy expensed in digestion. The heart beats faster, and blood pressure rises. Normally, people calm down when a stressful event is over especially if they have done something to cope with it. For instance, imagine your own reactions if you're walking down a dark street and hear someone running toward you. You get scared. Your body prepared you to ward off an attacker or run fast enough to get away. When you do escape, you gradually relax.

If you get angry at your boss, it's a different matter. Your body may prepare to fight. But since you want to keep your job, you try to ignore the angry feelings. Similarly, if on the way home you get stalled in traffic, there's nothing you can do to get away. These situations can literally may you sick. Your body has prepared for action, but you cannot act.Individuals differ in the way they respond to stress. In some, one function, such as blood pressure, becomes more active while others remain normal. Many experts believe that these individual physical responses to stress can become habitual. When the body is repeatedly aroused, one or more functions may become permanently overactive. Actual damage to bodily tissues may eventually result.

Biofeedback is often aimed at changing habitual reactions to stress that can cause pain or disease. Many clinicians believe that some of their patients and clients have forgotten how to relax. Feedback of physical responses such as skin temperature and muscle tension provides information to help patients recognize a relaxed state. The feedback signal may also act as a kind of reward for reducing tension. It's like a piano teacher whose frown turns to a smile when a young musician finally plays a tune properly.

The value of a feedback signal as information and reward may be even greater in the treatment of patients with paralyzed or spastic muscles. With these patients, biofeedback seems to be primarily a form of skill training like learning to pitch a ball. Instead of watching the ball, the patient watches the machine, which monitors activity in the affected muscle. Stroke victims with paralyzed arms and legs, for example, see that some part of their affected limbs remains active. The signal from the biofeedback machine proves it. This signal can guide the exercises that help patients regain use of their limbs. Perhaps just as important, the feedback convinces patients that the limbs are still alive. This reassurance often encourages them to continue their efforts.

Should You Try Biofeedback?

If you think you might benefit from biofeedback training, you should discuss it with your physician or other health care professional, who may wish to conduct tests to make certain that your condition does not require conventional medical treatment first. Responsible biofeedback therapists will not treat you for headaches, hypertension, or most disorders until you have had a thorough physical examination. Some require neurological tests as well.

How do you find a biofeedback therapist? First, ask your doctor or dentist, or contact the nearest community health center, medical society, or State biofeedback society for a referral. The psychology or psychiatry departments at nearby universities may also be able to help you. Most experts recommend that you consult only a health care professional a physician, psychologist, psychiatrist, nurse, social worker, dentist, physical therapist, for example who has been trained to use biofeedback.

This Material Was provided through:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Division of Communications and Education, National Institute of Mental Health
Public Health Service - Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857 USA

Types of Biofeedback Instruments

Galvanic Skin Response Sensors (GSRs) use the amount of sweat you produce under stress to measure the conductivity of your skin. They are often used to learn to reduce anxiety.
Electroencephalographs (EEGs) measure brain-wave activity. Conditions that may benefit from training on these machines include attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, tooth grinding, head injuries, and depression (including bipolar depression and seasonal affective disorder).
Skin Temperature Gauges show changes in the amount of heat given off by the skin, a measurement that indicates any change in blood flow. These gauges are used in the treatment of Raynaud's disease, high blood pressure, anxiety, and migraines.
Electromyographs (EMGs) instruments measure muscle tension. Practitioners use them to relieve muscle stiffness, treat incontinence, and recondition injured muscles.
Electrocardiographs (ECGs) monitor the heart rate and may be useful in relieving an overly rapid heartbeat and controlling high blood pressure.
Respiration Feedback Devices concentrate on the rate, rhythm, and type of breathing to help lessen symptoms of asthma, anxiety, and hyperventilation and promote relaxation.

Along with biofeedback training, the therapist may also give you instruction in deep breathing, meditation, visualization, and muscle relaxation, all of which may aid in relieving stress-related symptoms.

Treatment Time: Sessions usually last between 30 minutes and 1 hour.
Treatment Frequency: In most cases, people can learn to raise or lower their heart rate, relax specific muscles, lower blood pressure, and control other functions in 8 to 10 sessions. Some problems, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, take longer--sometimes up to 40 sessions. Depending on the severity of the problem and the technique used, practitioners suggest you attend 1 to 5 sessions per week.

Basic Beginner's Guide to NeuroFeedback coming soon....