A significant reduction in muscle contraction headache activity was observed in patients trained in the relaxation of the forehead musculature through EMG biofeedback. Training consisted of 16 semiweekly 20 min. EMG feedback sessions augmented by daily home practice. A pseudofeedback control group and a no-treatment control group failed to show significant reductions. A three-month follow-up questionnaire revealed a greatly decreased medication usage in the experimental group.In the late fifties, two British researchers (1) employed a then unique electromyographic (EMG) integration circuit to show that the resting level of frontalis EMG activity was higher in tension headache patients than normals. Since the immediate cause of pain associated with this common type of headache (more properly called muscle contraction headache) is usually due to a sustained contraction of the scalp and neck muscles (2,3,4), we hypothesized that if patients could be taught to relax these muscles, the pain would be alleviated.

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A 55-year-old male subject was treated with a two-tiered neurotherapy approach for a period of six months beginning approximately one year after a left-side CVA. Medical evaluation revealed left posterior temporal/parietal infarctions secondary to occlusion of the left internal carotid artery. The patient complained of hesitant speech with word finding difficulty and paraphasia, difficulty focusing his right eye, lack of balance and coordination, poor short-term memory, poor concentration, anxiety, depression, and tinnitus. A quantitative electroencephalograph (QEEG) analysis revealed increased left-side 4-7-Hz activity and alpha persistence on eye opening. Two neurotherapy approaches were used beginning with electroencephalographic entrainment feedback (EEF). This was followed by neurofeedback to inhibit 4-7 Hz and increase 15-21 Hz over sensorimotor and speech areas. At the conclusion of treatment there were significant reductions in slow-wave activity. Improvement was evident in speech fluency, word finding, balance and coordination, attention, and concentration. Depression, anxiety, and tinnitus were greatly reduced.

An instrument that assists subjects in attaining deep muscle relaxation by means of analog information feedback is described. Subjects hear a tone with a pitch proportional to the electromyographic activity in a given muscle group. Results showed that subjects receiving this type of analog feedback reached deeper levels of muscle relaxation than those receiving either no feedback or irrelevant feedback. The basic method employed-electronic detection, immediate information feedback, and systematic shaping of responses-would seem potentially applicable to a variety of physiological events, and might be useful both in behavior therapy and in certain psychosomatic disorders.