TUES 24 OCT // 1:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Primary Content Focus: Complementary Integrative Rehabilitation Medicine

Secondary Content Focus: Pain

Tertiary Content Focus: Clinical Practice (assessment, diagnosis, treatment, knowledge translation/EBP, implementation science, program development)

Heart rate variability biofeedback and Mindfulness are integrative health care techniques that together form the intervention called ‘Autonomic Self-Regulation (ASR). ASR is an easily learned, non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical way of managing centrally sensitized chronic pain. This instructional course uses case studies, lecture, and live hands-on demonstration to provide attendees a clear understanding of how ASR benefits works to reduce centrally sensitized chronic pain. Information explaining the shared central nervous system pathways of sensitized chronic pain and ASR will be shared, and recent research results from studies of the effect of ASR on chronic pain will also be presented.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Describe the practice of autonomic self-regulation for management of centrally sensitized chronic pain
2. Discuss ways of incorporating autonomic self-regulation into a coordinated clinical therapeutic model of chronic pain management
3. Summarize the nervous system pathways shared by centrally sensitized chronic pain and autonomic self-regulation

PRESENTERS

JP (Jack) Ginsberg, PhD, LCP
Dorn VA Medical Center

Raouf (Ron) S. Gharbo, DO
Riverside Hampton Roads Neurosurgical & Spine Specialists

Melanie Berry, MS, BCB-F, OMC, DANA, FAIS
Carolinas Biofeedback Clinic

Aubrey Berry, BS, ABT CP-TLP, CES, CHP
Carolinas Biofeedback Clinic

 

 

BIOS

Dr. Jack Ginsberg is a licensed clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist at the Dorn VA Medical Center, Columbia, SC, where he is an advocate for integrative health and wellness using mind-body treatments for pain and PTSD. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, served as a scientist reviewer of research grant proposals, and edited numerous scientific articles. Along with Ron Gharbo, DO, Dr. Ginsberg is co-principal investigator on a VA-funded study of HRV Biofeedback treatment of chronic pain, and also a co-author with Melanie Berry on a published study of the use of HRVB for chronic pain in veterans.

 

Dr. Ron Gharbo learned a holistic approach to medicine at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his specialty residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at The Ohio State University. Dr. Gharbo is board-certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine. As a specialist in physiatry and neurorehabilitation, Dr. Gharbo focuses on maximizing mobility and function after neurologic and orthopedic injuries. He promotes a mindful approach to chronic pain that requires a partnership utilizing recent electrophysiologic advancements. He enjoys speaking to health providers, staff, risk managers and leaders about how to understand the physiology of psychology to improve health, decision making, performance and culture. This approach has earned him recognition as a regional Top Doc for several years. His substantial research productivity in the application of Autonomic Self-Regulation to management of chronic pain includes peer-reviewed publications, research grant awards, invited oral presentations and webinars, and poster presentations at professional pain scientific meetngs. Dr. Gharbo has authored a chapter for a neuromuscular electrophysiology text and is currently a contributing author with an ongoing study with the University of South Carolina. This large Veterans Administration grant is the first randomized control trial design of heart rate variability biofeedback for chronic pain management.

Melanie E. Berry, MS, BCB-F, OMC, DANA, FAIS, is the clinical director at Carolinas Biofeedback Clinic. She is board certified as an associate fellow from the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA), a Certified Diplomate of the American Neurotherapy Association, and Othmer Method Certified in Neurofeedback. Her master’s level education in psychology gives her valuable insight into human behavior and an appreciation for the intricacies of the mind-body interaction. She has further specialized her training, supervision, and work experience in applied psychophysiology through several subspecialty certificates: as a HeartMath Interventionist expert in HRV Biofeedback and as a specialist in Microcurrent Electrotherapy. Ms. Berry is a fellow at the American Institute of Stress where she is a member of their Combat Stress Board. Her research has been published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine and she helped establish a CARF-accredited interdisciplinary pain program at the Dorn VA Medical Center. Melanie has presented a hands-on workshop on Autonomic Self-Regulation of Chronic Pain for the past two years at the American Academy of Pain Management (now the Academy of Integrative Pain Management).

Aubrey Berry is a Certified Biofeedback Technician at Carolinas Biofeedback Clinic, training clients in Autonomic Nervous System self-regulation utilizing a variety of cutting-edge technologies. She earned her Bachelor’s of Science at Clemson University in 2012. She has worked for Melanie Berry, the Clinical Director, since 2014, during which time she has earned her credentials as a Certified Provider of Advanced Brain Technologies’ The Listening Program, a Certified HeartMath Practitioner, and is Certified in Microcurrent Electrotherapy. She is currently working on her BCIA Board Certification in Biofeedback. Aubrey is further developing her skills by pursuing certification in the Othmer Method of Neurofeedback, as well as Advanced qEEG Brain Map acquisitions and analysis, and the Hemodynamic Method of Neurofeedback.

 

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