About Walt Fritz

Walt Fritz, PT, is a leader in providing education in manual therapy in speech-language pathology, voice intervention, laryngeal disorders, breathing disorders, oral motor dysfunction, and related communities. Unlike historically more aggressive or tissue-based approaches, which view problems as the result of a single tissue or behavioral fault, Walt’s blended views allow newer models that point to multifactorial causes and effects. This model requires adaptation by most new practitioners, as lowering our view as the “expert” and elevating patient perspectives is not easy. However, a shared decision-making approach results in patient/client empowerment and boosts outcomes.

Walt has taught thousands of speech-language pathologists, vocal coaches, registered dental hygienists, massage therapists, physical therapists/physiotherapists, occupational therapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, and ENTs his work through workshops worldwide. Casting such a wide net has added value to various rehabilitation settings and performance interventions, including positive results with world-renowned performers.

Walt makes his information available through live hands-on seminars, online courses, many podcasts, videos, and articles, and his book, Manual Therapy in Voice and Swallowing: A Person-Centered Approach (Compton Publishing LTD.), with details here. He is also a contributing author for The Oxford Handbook of Voice Pedagogy, which Oxford University Press will publish in late 2024.

Walt’s in-person classes are a lively blend of lectures, demonstrations, and immersive, hands-on learning that prepare the participants to apply in their practice. He has a progression of online courses targeting his voice and swallowing curriculum and a comprehensive online course for clinicians seeking a more general view of a shared decision-making model of non-manipulative manual therapy.

He holds a BS in Physical Therapy, a BA in Community Mental Health through the University at Buffalo (NY), and an MA in Professional Practice from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UK). He sees patients through his Upstate New York practice for voice/swallowing-related problems and more general physical therapy-related concerns. 

In addition to teaching classes internationally, Walt has contributed talks, workshops, and articles for:

• The Voice Foundations Symposium (2017, 2019, 2021)
• The Pan-American Vocology Association Conference (2021, 2023)
• The British Voice Association Voice Clinics Forum (2021)
• Numerous presentations for the Voice Study Centre (UK)
• Leylek Online Conference (Turkish Speech Pathology, 2023)
• The 3rd World Congress of Fascia (2023)
• Registered Massage Therapists’ Association of British Columbia Manual Therapy Conference (Keynote Presenter, 2016)
• Contributing author, The Oxford Handbook of Vocal Pedagogy (2024)
• “Focus on Myofascial Release for Head and Neck Disorders for Speech Pathologists: Voice, Speech, and Swallowing.” Presented at the 18th Annual Head and Neck Conference: Focus on Rehabilitation at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. Lecture and hands-on presentations (2015). 
• “Myofascial Release: The Neck and Lower Back.” Presented to the Natural Health Practitioners of Canada (2015).

Walt Fritz, PT

Foundations in Manual Therapy Seminars

PO Box 548

Lima, NY 14485

P: 585-244-6180

F: 1-866-413-9019