Incorporating manual therapy

Incorporating manual therapy

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

A sample chapter from Manual therapy in voice and swallowing: A person-centered approach

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

Podcasts and Articles

Podcasts and Articles

Walt Fritz, PT’s Podcasts, Videos, and Articles Over the past few years I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in a number of podcasts and interviews that are available for listening. They range from voice/swallowing-specific, to more general interviews that speak to various aspects of the manual therapy work that I teach. Strongly represented are principles… Continue Reading

Getting to yes. Using negotiation in the therapeutic process

Getting to yes. Using negotiation in the therapeutic process

Getting to yes: Using negotiation in the therapeutic process. Walt Fritz, PT(Updated January 2024) In this article, I want to dive deeply into the options available to the therapist, explicitly using a patient-centered, negotiation-driven model of care. A model like this becomes a therapeutic partnership, an alliance for a common goal. Contrast this model with… Continue Reading

21 Questions: Manual Therapy for Voice and Swallowing Disorders – A YouTube Playlist

21 Questions: Manual Therapy for Voice and Swallowing Disorders July 2023: While this post is dated regarding the title of my work (I evolved away from “Myofascial release/MFR” and into “manual therapy” due to issues of credibility), the content remains quite relevant. The playlist has expanded well beyond the original 21 videos to give the… Continue Reading

Tools for Trismus and Jaw Opening-Related Conditions

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?

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.

The mechanism of action for laryngeal manual therapies: the need for an update.

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

Seeing the Forest for the trees: Putting fascia in perspective when treating the whole person

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

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

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

“What do I do first, what do I do next, and when am I finished?”

“What do I do first, what do I do next, and when am I finished?” Walt Fritz, PT/Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders The touch-based, shared decision-making model of manual therapy I teach to speech-language pathologists and others is relatively simple, yet some find it complex. It seems complicated to those expecting me… Continue Reading

Foundations in Manual Therapy: Oral Motor Dysfunction

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.  Link to the online course 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

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