TY - JOUR T1 - Poor quality evidence to support the use of biofeedback for the treatment of functional constipation in adults JF - Evidence Based Nursing JO - Evid Based Nurs SP - 55 LP - 55 DO - 10.1136/eb-2014-101875 VL - 18 IS - 2 AU - Arnold Wald Y1 - 2015/04/01 UR - http://ebn.bmj.com/content/18/2/55.abstract N2 - Commentary on: Woodward S, Norton C, Chiarelli P. Biofeedback for treatment of chronic idiopathic constipation in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2014;3:CD008486.Currently, there is insufficient evidence to make conclusions regarding the efficacy and safety of biofeedback for patients with chronic constipation.Further, well-designed randomised controlled trials are needed to allow definitive conclusions to be drawn.Most patients with chronic constipation respond to conservative and pharmacological treatments. However, a minority of patients are refractory to treatment, one of the reasons being abnormalities of defaecation characterised by inability to relax the striated muscles which facilitate defaecation and/or ineffective defaecatory propulsive forces. Biofeedback, which employs instrumental learning through visual or auditory feedback using anorectal manometry or electromyography, has been recommended to improve muscle coordination in selected patients … ER -