Physical Therapy

Dycum

Tendon Glide

Pully and Roller

Voice Exercises

Belly (Diaphragm) Breathing:

  • Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly
  • Inhale: Breathe in through your nose. Think about breathing low to fill up the bottom of your lungs. As you breathe in you should feel your belly press out. The hand on your chest should stay relatively still.
  • Exhale: Breathe out with pursed lips. As you breathe out gently contract your abdominals. Think about pressing the air up from below as you exhale.
  • Repeat this cycle ~10x.

Use this breathing throughout your stretching and voice exercises

Stretches

Neck Stretches: Hold each position for 2 breath cycles. - Move slowly between each stretch. Repeat 3-5x.

  • Ear to Shoulder - R & L
  • Ear to Shoulder, tilt chin back - R & L
  • Look Behind you - R & L
  • Draw circles with your nose

Jaw and Tongue Stretches

Hold 3-5 seconds as tolerated. Then Relax. Repeat x5.

  • Yawn
  • Tongue Stretches: You should feel these stretch in the back of your tongue and into the top of your throat.
  • Curl tip of tongue down onto lower teeth then press forward.
  • Stick tongue out and down towards your chin

Laryngeal Massage

  • Place your fingers on the front of your throat and swallow. Find the bump the moves up and then back down. This is the front of your thyroid cartilage. Think of this as ‘home base’
  • Then pinch your thumb and pointer fingers together at ‘home base’. Then slide your fingers to the sides of the cartilage.
  • Add pressure to one side of your voice box. Gently press to the side and then slightly down.

Repeat 3-4 times on one side. Then move to the opposite side. Its ok to increase pressure as tolerated. If you feel some clicking / popping as your press- don’t worry, that is normal. Repeat for 3-5 cycles or until you feel like you need a break.

Voice Tasks

MMMMMMM Sound: Focus on the vibration in your lips Hold for 4-5 seconds Repeat 5x

MMMM Syllables: Focus on the vibration in your lips and clear sounding voice. Repeat 3-4x

  • MMMMe
  • MMMMay
  • MMMMy
  • MMMMoe
  • MMMMooo

Exercise Articles

These are just a few articles to highlight some of the points we have discussed in therapy.

This article highlights various exercises near the middle and end. Note the recommended aerobic exercise frequency (days per week and time).

Campbell, KL, Winters-Stone, KM, et al. “Exercise Guidelines for Cancer Survivors: Consensus Statement from International Multidisciplinary Roundtable.” Official Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, 1-16.

Found at lww.com

The next article recommends avoiding excessive high intensity exercise:

Mustian KM, Sprod LK, Janelsins M, Peppone LJ, Mohile S. Exercise Recommendations for Cancer-Related Fatigue, Cognitive Impairment, Sleep problems, Depression, Pain, Anxiety, and Physical Dysfunction: A Review. Oncol Hematol Rev. 2012;8(2):81-88. doi: 10.17925/ohr.2012.08.2.81. PMID: 23667857; PMCID: PMC3647480. Found on nih.gov