Benefits of combining neurofeedback and physical therapy for chronic pain: A case study

The combination of neurofeedback and physical therapy is a novel approach for chronic pain treatment. A 66 year old woman with a history of 9 years of chronic head and neck pain, whose progress toward pain reduction had reached a plateau and physical therapy only providing maintenance, was administered 32 sessions of physical therapy and 50 sessions of neurofeedback over a 6 month period. The patient achieved significant reduction in pain, improved sleep, and increase in functional mobility utilizing this combined approach. Pain intensity was reduced from 7.13/10 to 2.30/10, and the number of days with high pain reduced from 4-5 per week to 1 or less per week. Functionally, the patient increased her sitting tolerance by 2 hours, driving tolerance by 80 minutes and improved average sleep per night by 3 hours. The brain map findings showed reduction in occipital muscle artifact, Alpha peak frequency, and Alpha in the posterior cortex. Overall, this change added up to a 37-42% improvement in electro-cortical functioning. The importance of these findings is that the combination of physical therapy and neurofeedback may provide an alternative treatment regimen to chronic pain management that lowers the reliance on medication and reduces long-term costs.