Montare Behavioral Health offers traditional psychotherapy services as well as holistic ones, including vibroacoustic stimulation therapy.
Current tests of fetal well being during labor, such as nonstress testing, may fail to identify babies that require intervention and therefore lead to unnecessary cesarean deliveries (East 2008). A simple test that could alert clinicians of these babies could reduce this number significantly.
Physiological
Sound waves in certain frequency ranges have long been believed to promote circulation, activate neurotransmitters and otherwise initiate healing responses in the body. Vibroacoustic therapy tools – from handheld equipment that therapists can use to direct vibrations towards specific parts of the body to devices which emit both sounds and vibrations – have long been employed as healing therapies in a range of mental health treatments as well as certain physical ailments.
Vibroacoustic stimulation therapy can be used by trained professionals to address many symptoms, including preterm labor and contractions, fibrocystic breast disease, urinary tract infections, back pain and tinnitus. Additionally, this form of treatment is believed to help with anxiety and depression treatment as it poses minimal risk of side effects when administered properly by qualified individuals in a chair or on a mat setting (sometimes even using “sound bath” approaches without physical contact).
Acoustic stimulation of the fetal heart has been shown to significantly enhance accuracy during antenatal testing, yet more research needs to be conducted in order to establish optimal intensity, frequency and duration of vibrations for safety assessment purposes and assess outcomes and perinatal outcome assessment of this technique. A recent review of 12 randomised controlled trials involving 6822 mothers concluded that vibroacoustic stimulation reduces non-reassuring cardiotocography tests (RR 0.62 95%CI 0.48 to 0.81).
Fetal VAS involves placing a device on a mother’s abdomen over the region of her fetus’s head and emitting sound at a predetermined level for several seconds, in an attempt to trigger startle reflex in her fetus and cause movement and heart rate acceleration (tachycardia). This response mimics that observed after EEG-based brain stimulation using headset.
Music and vibrations have long been recognized for their physiological benefits, notably Aristotle in 300 BC who described how musical incantations could benefit mental and physical wellbeing. While modern medicine has taken this concept further, this approach remains grounded in the basic notion that our ears and minds form one integrated system which must work harmoniously together in order to sustain life.
Psychological
Traditional psychotherapy has proven invaluable in treating various mental and behavioral health concerns, yet alternative services have also gained in popularity. These services include vibroacoustic therapy, which utilizes sound waves and vibrations to soothe acute and chronic pain and anxiety. Furthermore, this treatment has proven its efficacy at decreasing stress and improving overall wellbeing. The device emits sounds and vibrations at frequencies tuned to match those found naturally within human bodies, so when patients come in for treatment they sit or lie down on comfortable surfaces where therapists activate the device and direct vibrations towards specific parts of the body while speaking soothing words to relax them further. Treatment is noninvasive and does not include drugs or medication for use.
Researchers recently conducted an EEG data comparison between vibroacoustic stimulation and guided mindfulness meditation on cognitive outcomes, and discovered both interventions increased psychological and physiological relaxation while having different cognitive effects; with Meditation showing one significant cognitive effect while Vibroacoustic Stimulation groups showed two. Participants reported feeling mentally stimulated and energized after participating in either intervention.
Participants were required to perform two low-cognitive-load tasks (Speech1 and Speech2) both before and after receiving their treatments; during vibration, brain focus and concentration increased while Mindfulness meditation caused concentration levels to decline, suggesting that meditation therapy might be better at creating an overall sense of well-being than internal awareness-related therapies.
The authors of this study suggest that differences between groups may be explained by vibration intensity and stimulation duration; studies without false positives typically used a three-second stimulation, while studies that recorded false negatives often used five second stimuli; this may explain why some studies reported an acceleration of fetal heart rate while others didn’t.
The authors of this study caution readers to interpret their research with extreme care, yet believe their results could prove valuable in identifying when vibroacoustic stimulation would most benefit a pregnancy, and used as an early detector of fetal distress; such an evaluation typically occurs when fetal heart rate patterns become less reassuring.
Social
Some dementia care facilities have tested informally using vibroacoustic chairs or cushions to soothe agitation and promote calm, although controlled studies of this use remain limited. Furthermore, uncontrollable observations made by some women during fetal ultrasound examinations suggests that vibrational stimulation could help decrease the number of cesarean section deliveries due to nonreassuring heart rate readings; early case reports also suggest it can ease spastic muscles in MS patients and improve mood for stroke rehabilitation patients; further research must validate these observations which reflect physiological findings that VAT activates parasympathetic responses.
Spiritual
Sounds frequencies and vibration can have an enormous effect on our bodies. Vibroacoustic therapy (VAT), an evidence-based form of noninvasive therapeutic treatment combining sound vibrations with soothing music to promote relaxation and healing, has been found to effectively lower stress levels while improving physical and emotional well-being. VAT has also been proven effective at relieving pain from chronic back, neck, and joint issues as well as increasing blood circulation to bring oxygen and nutrients directly to tissues thereby speeding the body’s natural healing processes and contributing to overall wellness.
Vibroacoustic stimulation offers many distinct advantages for relieving pain. Low-frequency vibrations stimulate mechanoreceptors to modulate pain signals while simultaneously entrain brainwaves for deep calm relaxation – helping reduce stress responses which amplify pain signals, as well as encouraging the release of feel-good hormones such as dopamine and serotonin.
VAT therapy can also help ease anxiety and depression by creating an environment of soothing vibrations and music to promote emotional balance and restore inner peace. VAT may even provide aid for individuals suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by helping them process and release their emotions more freely.
Vibration frequency and intensity can be adjusted to address specific conditions. At frequencies between 86-88 Hz, frequency therapy can provide headache and migraine relief; 52 Hz relieves menstrual cramps; 40Hz reduces depression; while 50Hz can dislodge lung secretions to promote better breathing. Therapy for various medical conditions such as fibromyalgia, arthritis, asthma and bronchitis may benefit from this form of therapy; additionally autism spectrum disorders and sensory processing disorders could benefit greatly. Additionally, massage therapy can improve sleep quality for those suffering from insomnia or other sleeping disorders. When combined with medications and therapies, it can provide significant improvement – though working with an experienced therapist to customize a personalized plan of therapy for each individual is key.
