Pharyngeal Exercises aim to strengthen, move and control muscles within your larynx (voice box). A physician or SLP may suggest these if you have trouble swallowing.
Aspiration prevention devices help keep food or liquid from entering your airway and lungs (aspiration). Your doctor or SLP may prescribe them in addition to other treatments, including diet changes, medicines or surgery.
1. Lion Roar
Lions have an imposing call, or roar, which can be heard miles away and sends out an amazing signal about who rules the African savannah. Although both lions and tigers roars can be terrifying to hear at close quarters; their differing tones come from differences in vocal fold size/positioning which cause different results in sound production.
Comparable to most species, lions and tigers’ vocal folds feature flattened square shapes that allow more surface area for vibration compared to their triangular counterparts, helping them produce powerful roars with reduced lung pressure. Furthermore, their fat-laden larynx provides cushioning to further stabilize vocal folds when vibrating resulting in even louder sounds produced from them.
Roaring engages and stimulates other muscles besides just vocal cords; it engages and stimulates those found in the throat, diaphragm, jaw, neck and facial regions as well. Roaring is therefore an effective exercise for people having trouble speaking up or who stutter as well as providing relief from anxiety or depression.
As with other exercises, it’s essential to remove distractions and practice at a time when you can fully concentrate. Furthermore, these pharyngeal exercises should only be practiced under the supervision of an SLP or healthcare professional and prior to beginning they should discuss your medical history in order to ensure these exercises are safe for you.
Yoga practitioners use Simhasana pranayama (Lion’s Breath) to strengthen the larynx and improve your posture. It involves lowering the jaw, opening wide mouthed and sticking out tongue. This stretching exercise stimulates platysma muscle in front of throat that becomes loose due to stress or depression which in turn loosens this muscle which leads to loose skin on neck and face area resulting in wrinkles and an overall less confident look; tightening this muscle through this breathing exercise strengthens it and can even reduce wrinkles while giving you more confidence overall!
2. Squeeze Your Tongue
If you are having difficulty swallowing food or liquid, an SLP may prescribe tongue-strengthening exercises to train the muscles and nerves to move food into your pharynx in the first phase of swallowing (the oral phase). They will provide guidance regarding frequency and duration. They may also suggest other forms of swallowing exercises which reduce choking risk or aspiration risk.
Exercise that often promotes oral/pharyngeal strengthening involves sticking your tongue out as far as possible and then laterally shifting it from one corner of your mouth to the other, known as Supraglottic Maneuver. It should be performed for 10 repetitions each time and will likely result in muscle fatigue after doing this exercise.
Another effective exercise involves placing a spoon or tongue depressor at the front of your tongue and pushing against it; this exercise is known as Medial Squeeze and used to build oral/pharyngeal strength and control exercises with or without saliva. 10 repetitions should be completed each time; any muscle fatigue or pain experienced while performing this activity is normal.
The Mendelsohn Maneuver is an throat muscle/pharyngeal/laryngeal strengthening exercise designed to be done both with or without food, but especially beneficial for people living with dysphagia. Place three middle fingers (index, middle, and ring) on Adam’s Apple; swallow while feeling its movement during oral/pharyngeal phase of swallowing process; once Adam’s Apple moves upward, squeeze throat muscles as instructed by your clinician for as long as needed before moving on with exercise routine.
SLPs can assist people experiencing difficulty swallowing in order to reduce the risk of aspiration, which can lead to pneumonia and other serious medical problems. They will teach the skills needed to avoid this dangerous practice such as how to swallow safely and what foods and liquids to avoid. They may also recommend additional treatments that improve their ability to swallow such as using straws or cups and thickeners in liquids.
3. Squeeze Your Larynx
When we swallow, air passes from your larynx and pharynx down through your larynx and pharynx into your trachea and into your lungs via the epiglottis, acting like a flap of tissue covering our airways and our lungs. In order to prevent food or liquid from going down your throat unknowingly when swallowing occurs, strong muscles in these regions of your throat need to exist in order to function efficiently; otherwise it could lead to dysphagia, making swallowing difficult or impossible if dysphagia occurs – so exercises designed specifically to strengthen these muscle groups can improve swallowing function significantly!
Your speech pathologist may prescribe tongue-strengthening exercises to assist in moving food through your mouth to your pharynx for swallowing, while other swallowing exercises could be prescribed if there are problems during other steps of swallowing, such as when food leaves your mouth or enters your esophagus.
One effective way to improve swallowing is through larynx-lifting exercises, and your doctor or speech-language pathologist (SLP) should explain these exercises to you and their frequency. When performing them, try doing them in a quiet room without distractions and without visitors being interrupted; that way you can concentrate solely on doing the exercises correctly.
Begin by lying flat on your back, but raising your head to be able to view your toes. Hold it there for one minute and lower it again after this initial set; repeat this procedure approximately 30 times; your SLP can verify whether you’re following these steps correctly using biofeedback techniques such as videofluoroscopy.
To perform this exercise, squeeze your throat and tongue muscles as hard as possible while dry-swallowing (with no food or beverages). When complete, your Adam’s apple should lift, which indicates you have done this properly. Your speech pathologist may increase either the duration or frequency of this exercise so as to build up strength.
4. Squeeze Your Throat
Your doctor or SLP may suggest larynx-closing exercises (also referred to as pharyngeal-closing exercises) for those having trouble swallowing, to strengthen the throat muscles involved with swallowing. Swallowing problems are sometimes caused by disease or injury that damages these muscles; untreated, this could lead to dysphagia; in turn this can lead to aspiration – when material from stomach or intestine enters respiratory tract and causes serious health complications including pneumonia – so swallowing rehabilitation – usually done in tandem with diet changes, medications or surgery can help prevent aspiration altogether.
Swallowing exercises are typically included as part of an SLP’s treatment plan and can be completed at home with their assistance. There are various types of swallowing exercises, and your SLP will select those most suited to address your specific swallowing problem.
This exercise, similar to the Mendelsohn maneuver, helps strengthen the muscles necessary for closing your glottis when swallowing. Begin by swallowing saliva without food, then tightly clench both jaw and lips together as hard as possible, trying to swallow as far into your soft palate as possible (as though swallowing a golf ball). Hold this position for several seconds before coughing – repeat several times! It may be challenging, particularly for those with weak or sensitive voices.
Exercise to strengthen the muscles in your throat and larynx to enhance your singing voice, as well as helping overcome common singing issues such as retracted tongue or depressed vocal cords. With regular practice of this exercise, tongue and throat muscles will strengthen, making accessing full head voice more easily possible.
Be consistent in your tongue strengthening exercises and other swallowing activities for maximum impact. Do them as recommended by your physician or SLP and record how many times a day you practice these exercises so your therapist can assess whether your swallowing has improved. This feedback provides useful feedback as they determine whether your progress has changed over time.
