Morrison’s Laryngeal Gutters: Why treat the retrolaryngeal region with manual therapy? Manual therapy, of all types, has been included in the voice (and later swallowing) professional literature since 1985 (Aronson 1). Early on, aggressive laryngeal manipulation was the norm, as it was seen to break up and reduce local muscle tension in the perilaryngeal musculature… Continue Reading
Gil Hedley’s 2024 Nerve Tour: A review On Wednesday, July 31, 2024, I participated in an afternoon workshop presented by anatomist Gil Hedley. This Buffalo, NY, area class was a part of Gil’s 111-city tour. “Gil is embarking on a one of a kind, 111-city tour of the United States and Canada to share his… Continue Reading
Shielded Work for the Win When beginning my manual therapy journey over 30 years ago, I was taught such work (myofascial release) must be done directly on the skin. It was said that if we worked over clothing, we were “releasing” clothing, not the fascia. Most complied with those requests, as group norms and tribal… Continue Reading
Tools for Trismus and Jaw Opening-Related Conditions A few years back, I made a post about self-treatment options for radiation-induced trismus and other jaw-related problems. Since that time, I’ve found more readily accessible items that can help your patients with these conditions. While my preferred treatment method is using a very gentle finger inserted between… Continue Reading
The hyoid. Must we work so aggressively? Manual interventions to the anterior neck take many forms. My early training taught us to grasp the hyoid at the posterior aspect to check alignment and “freedom.” Though never told to squeeze, when I received this work from other students and later, as part of treatment, the grip… Continue Reading
The mechanism of action for laryngeal manual therapies: the need for an update. In general, laryngeal manual therapies and manual therapy models tend towards narrow explanatory perspectives. Yet the various touch styles involved with such therapies have not been proven to be more than nonspecific. Having been taught through a modality that claims to target… Continue Reading
Incorporating manual therapy into current interventions: Tips from peers. In the eleven years that the Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders course has been taught, one of the more frequent questions facing new learners is a deeper understanding of how manual therapy (and shared decision-making) is to be incorporated into the treatment routines… Continue Reading
Seeing the forest for the trees: Putting fascia in perspective when treating the whole person. (Placing individual tissue perspectives into context) Fascia is a hot topic among many health and fitness professionals, but why so? Can we treat fascia? As an isolated structure, can we, beyond a reasonable doubt, be accurate in blaming fascial problems… Continue Reading
References cited in Walt Fritz, PT’s Presentation at the 3rd World Congress of Fascia, September 23, 2023 “Seeing the Forest for the trees: Putting fascia in perspective when treating the whole person.” You can access a downloadable reference list from this link. Continue Reading
A FEES view of manual therapy For most, getting the opportunity to visualize how manual therapy impacts internal structures is a rare event. I’m fortunate to have owners of FEES devices bring them to select Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders classes, allowing us to view those images. The methods taught in the… Continue Reading
A sample chapter from “Manual therapy in voice and swallowing: A person-centered approach“ Writing Manual therapy in voice and swallowing: A person-centered approach has marked a high point in my career. It resulted from decades of experience in the manual therapy tenches, including some difficult life lessons. Documenting many of the underlying problems with typical… Continue Reading
Foundations in Manual Therapy: Oral Motor Dysfunction Course Description This 4-hour, non-credit class offers the learner a focused look into manual therapy to address oral motor concerns. Content from the Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders is repeated in this shorter class. The cost of this course is $100.00. Link to the online… Continue Reading
Touch and touch-based cueing: Where does the vocal coach/teacher fit? In an effort to mine some data, I recently posted a set of questions on several Facebook groups. My post went: “An education, please. How do professionals here see the role of touch cueing in their work? For instance, is touching a student to encourage… Continue Reading
We record a good amount of video at each live Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders class, including myself, training the clinicians who act as teaching assistants. When I mention the apparent asymmetry of her anterior transverse processes, notice the variation in the SCM landscape. Is asymmetry a problem, the “cause,” or is… Continue Reading
The Thinking Practitioner Podcast Interview, with Whitney Lowe I was honored to be a guest on The Thinking Practitioner Podcast with Whitney Lowe. Whitney and I met many years ago when we were both presenting at a conference in Winnipeg, Canada, and I’ve followed his work since then. Our talk centered around one of my… Continue Reading
Palpation: An Art of Not Knowing Learning palpation, to feel what we need to feel in order to intervene, is a source of frustration for newcomers to the manual therapy field. As I teach my Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders course to SLP and others, many of who’ve yet to be exposed… Continue Reading
