Biofeedback
appears to be a treatment that is useful in many cases of chronic musculoskeletal
pain, particularly tension headache, TMD, and low back pain. However, its
success is based mostly on nonspecific factors in treatment, such as therapist
encouragement and giving the patient a feeling of self-efficacy; this explains
why biofeedback does not have better success than relaxation techniques in
most studies, despite its greater level technological sophistication. Bakal
(1999) raises the valid point that in research findings of biofeedback superiority
to relaxation, this effect may be based on an increased placebo effect in
biofeedback. The basis on high-tech machinery may give patients some reassurance
that their treatment will work, which may not be present to as great a degree
in relaxation or cognitive therapies.