Physical Therapy for Muscle Tension Dysphonia with Cervicalgia

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Physical Therapy for Muscle Tension Dysphonia with Cervicalgia Via ear nose throat Ear Nose Throat J. 2021 Dec 23:1455613211063239. doi: 10.1177/01455613211063239. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the effectiveness of a specialized manual physical therapy (PT) program at improving voice among patients diagnosed with concomitant muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) and cervicalgia at a tertiary care voice center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cervicalgia was determined by palpation of the anterior neck. Both voice therapy (VT) an d PT was recommended for all patients diagnosed with MTD and cervicalgia. PT included full-body manual physical therapy with myofascial release. Patients underwent: 1) VT alone, 2) concurrent PT and VT (PT with VT), 3) PT alone, 4) VT, but did not have PT ordered by treating clinician (VT without PT order) or 5) VT followed by PT (VT then PT). The pairwise difference in post-Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) controlling for baseline variables was calculated with a linear regression model. RESULTS: 178 patients met criteria. All groups showed improvement with treatment. The covariate-adjusted differences in mean post-VHI-10 improvement comparing the VT alone group as a reference were as follows: PT with VT 9.95 (95% confidence interval 7.70, 12.20); PT alone 8.31 (6.16, 10.45); VT without PT order 8.51 (5.55, 11.47); VT then PT 5.47 (2.51, 8.42). CONCLUSION: Among patients diagnosed with MTD with cervicalgia, treatment with a specialized PT program was associated with impr ovement in VHI-10 scores regardless of whether they had VT. While VT is the standard of care for MTD, PT may also offer benefit for MTD patients with cervicalgia. PMID:34939450 | DOI:10.1177/01455613211063239 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.