Spasmodic Dysphonia, Laryngitis, Stuttering

Important: SD, Stuttering, Laryngitis have very similar characteristics when you observe them from a breathing perspective. Similar Optimal Breathing techniques for SD work also for stuttering and laryngitis.

Symptoms of a breathy and weak voice began in 1974 as an over-stressed undergraduate at Cornell University. There were many unanswered questions and much frustration in dealing with EENT Medical Specialists and Speech Pathologists until 1991 when I was diagnosed as having Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD). During most of the years between '74 & '91, SD had not even been a named disorder.

I applied and was accepted to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a participant in their research for treatment. The treatment for SD is local injections of Botulism Toxin (Botox®) to alleviate the spasms of the laryngeal muscles needed for phonation. My laryngeal muscles upon speaking were spasming open, thus the breathy quality to my voice. The research project was thorough according to medical standards of the day. Some of the procedures were: complete history and physical exam, they checked my breathing/speaking pattern via electronic chest and belly bands in conjunction with audio tape recording of simultaneous phonation, laryngoscopy to view my larynx on a monitor as I spoke, and needle electromyelography (EMG) of my laryngeal muscles.

The treatment of injections of Botox were administered under general anesthesia, to one side of my larynx. I was released to go home the following day. Even though I was physically in shape and an athlete all my life, for three weeks following the procedure I experienced dyspnea (difficulty breathing) with minimal physical activity such as walking to the bathroom. I had been warned that drinking liquids may have to be done through a straw, which was indeed the case. The symptomatic relief (increase in voice quality) lasted for 3 months and was minimal compared to the side effects of the treatment.

About this same time, I began chiropractic care (specifically Network Spinal Analysis) for headaches and tight neck/shoulders associated with the compensations involved in poor voice use. To my delight, I found that through this particular chiropractic care, my voice had greater breath support. I continued with chiropractic care, and added various body awareness techniques to my repertoire, such as The Alexander Technique and The Feldenkrais Technique. These helped, but there was still a key missing, a lasting support system was still needed for my voice.

In reviewing my progress through the years, I realized that I was greatly helped whenever my breath expanded. My breathy, weak voice needed good sound, solid, continual breath support. I then came across "The Breathing Coach," Michael Grant White and his "Optimal Breathing."

My first session with Mike was unforgettable. I came to him with all the excitement and fears anyone would have with having a "voice disorder" for 24 years. My goal was to have a stronger, more resonant voice for normal speaking, public speaking and singing. The initial analysis, among many other things, consisted of where there were blockages and holding patterns in my neck, chest, and back. My first task was to get a baseline on singing. This was difficult, singing in front of a stranger, and was calling all stress receptors in my body to engage. My singing expressed itself as weak, breathy, and forced. As anyone with a voice disorder can relate, stress frequently makes your voice worsen. Yet, I was with Mike to get help, and I was ready to do most anything to assist Mike in helping me.

Over the next hour, Mike worked with me in various ways. First I was on a special side-to-side undulation machine to move the energy throughout my body. Afterwards I felt a difference in my legs, but not much anywhere else. We repeated the gentle machine therapy at the end of the entire session that day, and I felt the energy flowing all through my legs, trunk and arms. This was quite a remarkable change. After the initial side-undulation therapy, I then moved to the massage table, where Mike verbally instructed and physically directed my inhalations to where I specifically needed them. This created such a new sensation in my body of deeper, fuller, more greatly expanded breaths. A wonderful start! My body had so much more energy flowing through it immediately.

The next step was to stand and learn to bring my breath low into my pelvis and use it from there saying "hah." From this point, I then used the newly expanded and deepened breath to sing. Oh! What a difference! And yes, there were habits that I needed to work out, but always with Mike's gentle, persistent, encouraging guidance. While I was singing, Mike worked on the blockages along my back, sometimes with pressure applied at specific points, other times by opening my shoulders/thorax so the breath had free clearance. At one point I was so happily overwhelmed with the resonance, strength, and ease of my voice that I stopped singing and proclaimed to my newfound Breathing Coach "You are a genius." I had never in my life up to that point experienced such vocal freedom, resonance, clarity and ease. What I had been told were permanent voice problems that I needed to work around, or bear with, are essentially mechanical faults in the coordination of my breathing.

I then built upon this success with learning to sing "in an arc." With this technique, one can speak across a football field without strain. I was in awe as to how my voice could perform...how far it could reach. The hour-long session was exhausting, having to deal with old breathing habits, and the emotional "stuff" that accompanies sub-optimal breathing patterns. Mike is well prepared and has wonderful direct ways of getting right through all of this while keeping the honor/respect of the client well intact.

Would I refer someone to Michael Grant White, "The Breathing Coach"? With no hesitation. You see, I am a Chiropractic Physician...and I am in touch with the body, its energy, blockages, and releases from a chiropractic standpoint. I have had many years experience working with positive changes in patients' bodies. Since we breathe continually day in and day out, the cumulative effects of sub-optimal breathing is very draining on the body-mind, yet on the other hand, the cumulative effects of OPTIMAL BREATHING are wonderfully regenerative to this same body-mind. Which would you prefer for yourself? I know now that it is through OPTIMAL BREATHING that I have the KEY to unlocking the potential in my voice and many areas of my life.

From Mike:
I strongly suspect SD to be a mechanical issue correctable by mechanical means. I do not believe that genetics can influence it beyond one's own self determinism. If the person is mindful enough to make the change, spirit will prevail.

Notes from a recent session with an adductor SD client.

This is more of what I am getting at with your SD that it is largely a diaphragm and breathing coordination issue that is caused by the breathing system of hips, pelvis, abdomen, thorax, diaphragm, internal organs, fascia, throat and jaw being squashed, bent, overtight and twisted in subtle ways that defy measurement but respond to unusual body positions that change the internal coordination back to where it works better...immediately. Subtle shifts in the voice are the primary indicators for this. They initially may not be discernible to the maker of the sound who has lost their connection with the sound of their natural voice, but before and after tape recordings can help them hear the vocal changes if they cannot do so themselves.

We must, of course, have already opened up (via Optimal Breath Releases (OBRs) and strapping techniques etc.) the entire system to make the maximum change possible and ensure success. We then take the odd, sometimes threatening, invasive, distasteful (the prima donna pose, grotesque or foreign and possibly threatening body distortions, etc.) body positions and allow the breathing coordination to find it's own way by making sound concurrently with that "different" body positions. This happens often enough and the body reforms internally (unwinds) allowing the new way of sounding to become spontaneous while the ODD body position becomes less and less needed, and we slowly revert back to healthy posturing.

So the internal coordination is changed by making sound whilst stretching and bending the outside of the body which is the container for the inside in the first place. Again, it unwinds from the inside out. The precise body positions are critical.

Sit or stand with a slight backward arch, and place your thumbs in your kidneys, and wrap your fingers around to your belly (or sides if you are a large person). Squeeze your thumb and fingers together gently and breathe into that pressure caused by the squeeze. When your breath and belly is at it largest, force your belly outward as you slowly exhale your breath. Make sure the muscles are working hard to keep the belly extended. Repeat this several times and notice if your voice gets a little stronger or more even. Do several times daily.

Do you know how to breathe right? Click here.

Spasmodic dysphonia, stuttering, and laryngitis, voice quality problems that had resisted drugs and nutrition for months to years have greatly improved or disappeared within hours to weeks using Optimal Breathing Techniques.