Foundations in Manual Therapy: “Voice and Swallowing Disorders”
We got a little Smarter!
Our Healthcare team spent the weekend learning from one of the best in the course titled:
“Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders” by Walt Fritz, PT
In this course we learned how to help people struggling with problems around the neck region covering topics such as voice and swallowing disorders, neck pain, and how to work with speech and language pathologists better. This course was super helpful in learning detailed manual therapy techniques to help give relief to these problems!
Here are a few things we learned at the course!
1. Everyone experiences pain differently!
We need to remember that we are human and have unique experiences with life, especially when we are experiencing intense emotions around pain and sensitivity. Everyone has different expectations, needs, and wants when it comes to getting manual therapy treatment. Including the patient as a part of the process to help determine pressure, treatment location, and overall safety. This patient shared experience is a game changer to get the “right spot” faster and help THEIR body get the attention they are looking for.
2. The ENTIRE Neck region needs to be treated!
Typically when someone is seeking help with their neck or throat discomfort, treatment can get biased on the back side of the neck and shoulders only! We spent most of our treatment sessions on treating the front side of the neck as well as the backside. The muscles around the Larynx, Hyoid Bones, and down to the sternum all were huge game changers to assist in things like headaches, TMJ dysfunction, and neck pain.
3. There are so many reasons to get your neck treated and assessed!
We met so many different people with extremely different needs. All of these people benefited from receiving these manual therapy techniques. One of our favorites was an Opera Singer that took the course. He was having some control issues when he would go into higher pitch levels. After receiving treatment on his throat and neck, he was able to get to those higher pitch levels and feel like he had way more control!
Another was a local Physical Therapy friend of ours struggling with reflux in his throat. Again, after some treatment, the hoarseness and immediate relief was felt after receiving some manual therapy around the front side of this throat. A few others included things like clicky jaws, TMJ issues, headaches, and overall neck stiffness. Focused manual therapy of the throat and neck had several benefits to all of these people with different needs.
We are excited to add these new techniques into our daily practice and hope to help as many people as we can. If you would like to learn more about these types of treatments, give us a call at 702-558-2151 to learn more! Our healthcare team is there for you to help you and your physical freedom goals!