BFVASO - Blood flow

Examples of applications

• Raynaud's disease
• migraine
• essential hypertonia
• temperature training for general relaxation

Description
In this type of training the client increases the blood flow to the hands through relaxation.

Changes in peripheral blood supply are controlled by the blood vessel mechanism – that is, by sympathetic arousal of the vasoconstrictor fibres. As a person relaxes, the blood vessels widen and blood flow increases. The hands become warmer. Feedback is provided via the temperature sensor.

Two programs are available:

Sun
By warming the hand the client causes the sun to rise. When the training goal is reached, the process starts again.

Visual stimulus presentation
The program displays a series of pictures which convey increasing degrees of coldness. While watching the pictures the client attempts to keep the hand temperature as stable as possible. This function can only be used in combination with the special training program “Confrontation training with picture sequences” (BFKON).

You can also incorporate your own pictures into the program.

Recommended session length
15 minutes

Evaluation
This chart shows the protocol of the rise in temperature (red). The fall in skin conductance shows that the training has also resulted in mental relaxation (yellow).