Cardiovascular Biofeedback and its Applications: Review of Literature

Abstract

Cardiovascular biofeedback is a technique for physiological modulation mediated by the resonance between two mechanisms of cardiovascular regulation: the baroreceptor reflex and the respiratory sinus arrhythmia. When this phenomenon occurs, it is possible to see a significant increase in the amplitude of the frequency around 0.1Hz, called low frequency (LF). In this paper, the Pubmed database was consulted and 31 papers published between July of 2000 and June of 2012 were reviewed. The protocol most cited (for 41.94 % of the papers) was the one created by Lehrer, Vaschillo, & Vaschillo (2000) and involves 10 weekly sessions, for 20 minutes each, plus home-training twice a day for 20 minutes. Biofeedback training has shown promising result as a complementary therapy for different disorders, with significant reduction in the scores of anxiety and depression scales, whether these pathologies occur as the only complaint or as comorbidly with other diseases. The effects on cognitive changes have shown inconsistent results.