Mindgrowth, a U.S.-Canadian company – distributes biofeedback equipment  – with and without tracking software – used for, among other things, pain management/reduction, treating PTSD, panic disorders, and other uses.The GSR2 (pictured below) is designed and manufactured in North America by Thought Technology, the largest manufacturer of biofeedback products in the world. There are more than 550,000 of the GSR2 in use worldwide, including the United States Veterans’ Administration medical system.

Biofeedback is no longer “experimental” – there’s no question that it works, not only for medical uses, but also in enhancing athletic performance and cognitive function. It has a substantial drawback in the context of the United States health system: once purchased, and used/learned, some people have lasting effects and never touch the equipment again – others need to return to the biofeedback equipment to “relearn” the original “lesson.” To keep this example simple – think of someone trying to unlearn a fear response to a particular stimulus – loud noises, for example.

What’s wrong with this is that it conflicts with the business model of companies which make medications – especially used on a chronic basis. (In the example above, think of clonazepam, or other benzodiazepines – Valium, Klonopin, Xanax, and the like). The analogy is that of an oil company’s feelings about solar power. If a house is well-insulated and solar/wind power used to heat the house – the oil company revenue from that house is diminished or disappears entirely.

Mindgrowth makes biofeedback equipment – in Canada, not China – and is able to sell it in packages FOR $80  USD

(without recording software) and under $100 USD with.software which not only increases the feedback functionality – also allows people to collect their own medical data – which presents physicians with a richer and more consistent data set when seeing patients on followup. (Or even between visits, since it is collecting electronic records).

Tramadol – just one of many pain medications – can easily cost several hundred dollars per month.  ((After spending some time researching this, we are sorry to report that New York’s drug-price comparison site

is embarassingly close to useless. We’ll be following up on this is in the near future; It tracks only 150 drugs – and without generic equivalents)).

So biofeedback is a bad deal for drug manufacturers. And the more affordable – the worse it is for them.

Mindgrowth – their consumer systems, by our research, are several hundred dollars cheaper than their competitors – are doing what President Obama has asked for – find efficiencies in medical care that provide good care for patients and save money.

So why aren’t biofeedback devices regularly or universally covered by health insurers? We’ll try to address that in future posts.