For Your Information – VAT Therapy
Most of us have every-day issues which are reducing our life quality. When our ailments become too bothersome, we seek help from our physician in order to get medical help. Even with good and adequate medication it can happen that we are not able to keep the discomfort at bay. Our body still is complaining. Vibroacoustic ® Therapy (VAT) – Low Frequency Sound Massage – may reduce pains and discomfort and enhance life quality significantly.
We know that sound is perceived by the ear. Most of us are little aware of the fact that we can receive sound via the whole body – but we usually perceive sound transferred to the body as vibrations. VAT is developed in order to be harmless and to give the body full benefit of the positive effect of controlled low frequency sound.
Vibrations are one of the properties of life – and are a necessary prerequisite for development of all life. Sounds and vibrations surround us, but all our verbal concepts about sound are irrevocably associated with binaural perception. We do not have concepts in our language describing positive effects of low frequency sound transfer directly to the body. However, there is much knowledge about the negative effects of sounds and noise. The adult body has not forgotten the positive effect of the life-developing sound vibrations in the uterus. The memories remain in us on a cellular level. Evoking these memories can contribute to re-establish the harmonic state of a human being in positive development.
VAT is re-creating the inborn re-creational systems in our organism.
Olav Skille has developed a controlled method of transferring this low frequency sound massage directly to our body. Our bodies consist mainly of water, and can – acoustically - be compared with a water-filled sack. Sound transferred to any single point of the sack will be transferred by the watery substances to any part of the body surface – and will give mechanical massage to virtually every cell inside the body. Even the brain will receive vibrations when we apply sound along the spine.
A suffering body is sending signals that some thing is not as it ought to be – and it remembers the soothing cell-massaging intrauterine sound environment.
Vibroacoustic ® Therapy (VAT)
The basic theory of Vibroacoustic ® Therapy was first defined by Olav Skille, Tony Wigram and Petri Lehikoinen in an attempt to envision a possible enlargement of the theory and practice within traditional music therapy. The first prototypes of equipment were assembled in 1980 and – as a result of Skille’s presentations in congresses, symposia, articles in journals, lectures in universities and presentation on Internet. Several therapists and producers of equipment modified the method and equipment. Body perception of sound has been used for communicative purposes in the education of deaf children. However, sound reception is mainly associated with binaural perception and harmful effects of environmental noise. The harmful effect of noise exposure has been thoroughly described in several contexts.
Music has a more complicated frequency spectrum than noise and speech. The variety of frequency elements is so great that it is impossible to define which musical elements that are effective in a music therapy session.
Tony Wigrams wrote his PhD based on the first VAT sound cassettes, which contained a mixture of music and frequencies. He named this mixture “Vibroacoustic Music” (VAM) and most therapists around the world are using body perceived VAM or pure musical stimuli in their work.
Olav Skille refined the concept of VAT to the use of one, amplitude modulated, sinusoidal tone in order to have exact control over the stimuli that are transferred to the human body. Both VAT and VAM can use the same technical equipment to transfer the stimuli. This method has yielded new, multilayer frequencies for broad spectrum effects.
VAT has only one sound element and makes it possible to define which frequencies have specific therapeutic effects. VAT programs are made with varying distance between the monotonous amplitude tops. The pulsation speed is interfering with the disturbed intrapersonal communication signals and tries to harmonize mental and physical disharmony in order to create a general feeling of well-being.
VAT as an adjunct to medical therapy
VAT is poison free and does not use foreign substances. The sound stimuli that are used are increasing the production of stress hormones (Beta-Endorphine, ACTH and Cortisol) in the body. The primary effect of VAT is that it adds mechanical stress to our organism,- just as we add stress to our body when we are jogging. Afterwards we experience relaxation and well-being. When we experience VAT stress, the brain starts producing stress hormones, and we reach the stress-hormone peak after about 15 minutes. The normal exposure time is 23 minutes. Afterwards, the body feels the positive effect of the gentle, all-encompassing sound massage that unconsciously is interpreted as calming and relaxing. The positive, “silent jogging” effect of VAT can have positive effect on persons who are sitting in a wheelchair, are lying in bed, or are under-stimulated physically or neurologically. It can provide them with a positive hormonal substitute for physical exercise.
VAT is a positive ”add-on” for any other therapy we use – it does not matter if it is medicines, physiotherapy, chiropractic, acupuncture or other alternative therapies. The Estonian paediatrician Saima Tamm described VAT as ”adapting therapy” – a therapy that has the effects of making the body “choose” the effects it needs in almost all circumstances, The organism feels the signals which are on the outlook for total harmony, and creates reactions in the body than can satisfy the signalled needs.
By presence of a recent thrombosis which can start moving to the lungs or brain..
By psychotic or pre-psychotic symptoms.
Use with care if the blood pressure is very low (hypotonia).
Use with extreme care if there is a recent physical trauma.
Description of equipment
Each therapy CD/file has normally one track for professional use. Each track has a duration of 23 minutes.
Each sound-track consists of one, pulsating, frequency. This is a pure technical sound and cannot be said to be music, even if it is a sound track. The pulsation is even and unchanged through the entire therapy session. Some frequencies solutions are a package of mixed frequencies.
Monotony is recognized to be a very important element in VAT.
After 40.000 hours of collective experience we have, empirically, chosen 7 frequencies that may be considered to be the basic frequencies of VAT. We can make customized therapy programs for more specialized use. All programs have an analgesic and relaxing effect.
These CDs/files have their main effect on the specific areas that are described here, but it is not harmful to try several frequencies in order to test their effect instead of the first choice. If you, in cooperation with the patient, find it necessary to double the length of the therapy session, you can use two or more different CDs/files in succession – or repeat the first session. Do not overexpose the patient. (Duration and volume)
If you are using the 7 basic CDs, each CD is labelled with the colours of the situations for which the CD has proved to have the most profound effect. When you have more experience with the effect of the CDs you can freely switch between frequencies – because many symptoms of distress come from a combination of problematic areas.
Remember:
You may find differences in the volume effect of the CDs- even if the recording level is the same on all CDs. If you observe negative effects, switch to RED 5 minutes at very low volume.
End every session this way: Stretch like a cat a couple of times, take two deep breaths. Then rise slowly and leave the VAT.
The whole body is sponging up the effect of the frequency that is in use. You may experience that the effect is felt differently in different parts of the body. This is because the body organs can respond differently to the same frequency.
It is because of the harmonizing effect of the sound massage that the effect can be felt stronger in the parts of the body that benefit most from the therapy.
Some patients experience heat during the therapy session. This is because the body is receiving mechanical energy, and will absorb about 2 % of the transferred energy.
Assemble the equipment according to the manual packed with the BedPad. Choose CD according to the therapeutic procedure effect you want to obtain.
Let the patient lie on the BedPad. Put a small pillow under the patient’s neck. The patient can lie on the back, the side or in prone position. The sound waves will in any case penetrate and massage every cell of the body. If necessary, use pillow supports to obtain a comfortable position. Normally, the transducer section is placed under the torso along the spine.
If you are treating leg sores, varicose veins, or other conditions which require maximum massage effect to the lower extremities, turn the BedPad (or the patient) so that the part of the BedPad with most transducers is under the part of the body that needs most concentrated vibrations. This can also be done when we treat muscular overuse symptoms from sport, or heavy gardening.
You can use your own experience to find conditions that will respond positively to low frequency sound massage. The main areas of use are connected with relaxation, spasm reduction, stress reduction and vasodilator effects. VAT stimulates the brain and has a psycho-physiologic effect much like normal skin contact/stimulation. VAT is calming and anxiolytic at lower volume levels.
We are being massaged by low frequency (low/deep) sound waves, which are felt as vibrations. The vibrations can also be heard. BLUE is perceived to be louder than RED , and the volume has to be adjusted accordingly. The sound waves are so long that they penetrate all body tissue – which absorbs about 2 % of the energy that is transferred. The effects can be described in the following points and the conditions that respond positively to the VAT therapy will derive from one or more of them:
The effects on COPD, Cystic Fibrosis or Asthma can be explained by the changed viscosity of the phlegm in the bronchies and lungs, and the spasmolytic effect is effective on broncho-spasms. Correct choice of frequency may also stimulate the coughing reflex. VAT can have the same physiologic result as heat treatment and physical massage, and the vibration effect is evenly distributed, smooth, and lasts for 23 minutes.
VAT has been in daily use since the beginning of the 1980ies by therapists and inventors all over the world. Some of them have published theses and reports on different populations and conditions. Many reports are of anecdotal nature. Large-scale medical projects are non-existent. Most reports have been written about ailments/pains/spasms in the muscle-skeletal system.
VAT is used in several brands of vibroacoustic equipment. There is until no unified use of frequency transfer equipment. The therapists who have been cooperating with Olav Skille are all using identical equipment and sound stimuli. Their results can be compared with results from all other therapists that are using the same frequencies.
The most positive effects have – until now – been found when treating symptoms in:
The effects of VAT may differ from one patient to another. Usually we find that the patients are experiencing significantly improved life quality. This occurs not only for the primary reason they seek us, but after a series of 10 sessions, they often report positive effect on other conditions as well. Keep a note of these observations, and share them with other VAT therapists, f. ex. on the http://isva.info website.
Normally therapy starts with 2 sessions per week for 5 weeks. Thereafter, maintenance intervals must be found for each person. Some patients will need many daily sessions in order to keep life quality at a desirable level. In such cases, recommend VAT equipment for home use. The VAT cushion is ideal for home use.
Olav Skille Vibroacoustic Solutions will assist in providing suitable home equipment if necessary.