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?
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
Retrolaryngeal manual therapy for voice and swallowing-related issues
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
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
New Links
New Links Click on the above image to download the paper. Continue Reading
Palpation: An Art of Not Knowing
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
Treatment by Walt Fritz, PT
Receive expert intervention from the person who teaches others Walt Fritz, PT, has been in private practice for over two decades and has been educating health professionals through person-centered manual therapy intervention since 2007. More recently, he has taught this work to speech-language pathologists and voice professionals to aid them in their interventions with patients… Continue Reading
Manual therapy safety in the head and neck: A person-centered guide
Manual therapy safety in the head and neck: A person-centered guide The December 2022 issue of the Massage New Zealand publication contained a feature article I was asked to write. The topic of safety when working in the head and neck field can take many forms, including strict medical concerns. I wrote a broader article… Continue Reading
Manual Therapy vs. Touch-Based Cueing. Can touch be non-denominational?
Might touch-based cueing be more similar to manual therapy/massage touch than many believe?
Thirty-seven years of a physical therapy career has taught me much but left me confused about just as much. I’ve learned the value of movement, be it presented as strengthening for the remediation of problems or a more generic movement for those same outcomes. I’ve seen the importance of balance, though now I shy away from seeing the solving of issues being dependent on achieving perfect balance. And I’ve seen touch help move people through their dysfunctions, though I no longer worship one form of touch as I once did. Continue Reading
One-on-One Learning Options
In addition to traditional onsite group seminars at locations around the globe, I am now offering private, one-on-one offerings of the Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders training. These private classes are available at my Upstate New York clinic, accessible from the Greater Rochester International Airport (ROC). This option may also be available… Continue Reading
Building self-determination in our patients
Building self-determination in our patients “What I find so hard to understand is how I continue to improve without seeing you regularly!”These words, paraphrased based on my memory, were recently said to me by a patient. I frustrate new patients when they ask me how frequently they should be seen, and I reply with a… Continue Reading
Active cancer and manual therapy
Active cancer and manual therapy Walt Fritz, PT, Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders Seminars May 23, 2022 Input encouraged on what I know to be a contentious topic. From a recent question about the safety of manual therapy used when a patient has active cancer, I endeavored to collect data on this… Continue Reading
Visual impacts of manual therapy
Internal views of externally applied interventions are a great way to see how touch may impact. Nothing guarantees change, but knowing what we know about patient perspectives and inclusion if we are able to reach and create awareness to centers responsible for voice and swallowing disorders, our chances of introducing change is quite good. Thanks… Continue Reading
Manual therapy to the retrolaryngeal “gutters”
Manual therapy to the retrolaryngeal “gutters” Accessing the area in front of the spinal transverse processes, for the past 28 years, I’ve used a manual therapy technique taught to me in 1994 as an anterior cervical technique for neck and arm pain. Though fraught with outdated concepts of cause and effect, the hands-on sequences proved… Continue Reading
Review of Inner Jaw Self-Treatment Tools
Review of Inner Jaw Self-Treatment Tools In the quest to offer more self-treatment options/solutions to patients with jaw-related issues (TMD, radiation-induced trismus), specifically for accessing the interior mandibular (aka pterygoid) region, I tested three products. From the perspective of treatment, placing a finger into the area between the ramus of the mandible and upper row… Continue Reading
Wedge Revival
Wedge Revival Recognize these? Various professions use pelvic wedges to “balance the pelvis” or other more nefarious (manipulative) usages. In my early training, I was presented with a decidedly biomechanical model of causation and intervention. If the body is misaligned, this was seen as the cause of problems, along with restricted fascia and emotional stuck-ness… Continue Reading
