Concussion Recovery Strategies: Part IV, Neurofeedback and Concussions
The posts on this blog are based on my personal experience and are not medical advice.
Strangely, this is the post in this series for which I have the least to say.
There are two types of neuro-biofeedback (which is usually called neurofeedback), protocol based and dynamic. At San Francisco Neurofeedback Center we use Neuroptimal, which is dynamic neurofeedback. Dynamic neurofeedback does not try to "downtrain" or "uptrain" your brain into any particular frequency. Instead, it reads where your brain currently is and lets your brain make gradual changes back to its normal state. Dynamic neurofeedback has the benefit of being condition agnostic.
With Neuroptimal, sensors attach to your head and read the electrical voltage of your brain and feed this information to an amp which in turn feeds it to the Neuroptimal software. The person training listens to music. When the brain is about to change states, the software recognizes this and in that millisecond the music briefly stops. These stops, or interruptions as they are commonly called, triggers the brain's orienting response. The orienting response brings the brain back to the present moment.
Neurofeedback is used for a number of reasons. Better focus. Better sleep. Battling anxiety and depression. Recovery from PTSD or traumatic events. And of course, recovery from concussion symptoms.
Here is a great video about how Neuroptimal helps to recover from concussion. And here is a great account of what neuroptimal is like after 15 sessions of use. Both are compelling endorsements of neurofeedback.