Vocal Physiothrapy
Every Elite athlete has a Physiotherapist on their team to help them Optimise their Body, Assist with Recovery, and Perform their Best. Now Singers can have this Pro-Level Support as well.
Having a Voice Physio on your Voice Care Team is the BEST way to keep your voice in Top Physical Condition so you can sound your Vocal Best.
Singers have been missing out on this important support until now. Now you can have your own Voice Physio on your Voice Care Team too.
How Can Vocal Physiotherapy help Singers?
A lot of voice issues have nothing to do with your Vocal Technique but everything to do with Pain and Dysfunction in your body.
Pain is a strong driver of excessive muscle tension, if you have pain anywhere in your body, it will negatively affect your movement efficiency, function, and performance. Here’re some examples:
- 😣 Neck Pain and associated Excessive Muscle Tension can mess with your Tone, Pitch, and Resonance. ➡️ You can have the best technique to place your sound and shape your vowels, but none of that can break through a stubborn wall of muscle tension Perpetuated by chronic neck pain.
- 👅 Jaw pain / Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMJD) can cause difficulties with Articulation and Enunciation. ➡️ If your jaw does not allow adequate, pain-free movement, you simply cannot Execute your technique fully and efficiently.
- 🩻 Thoracic Spine Pain and Rib Stiffness can Restrict Ribcage Expansion causing Suboptimal Breath Control. ➡️ There is no vocal technique that will magically Free up your stiff back and ribs.
- 😖 Chronic Low Back Pain can inhibit your core- the muscles for Breath Support. ➡️ Even if you can engage your Core and Pelvic Floor correctly, they can’t work Properly for you when they are being Inhibited by pain. Not to mention Compensation Strategies often result in Fatigue, Straining and Vocal Tension.
- 🦶🏽 Recurrent Ankle Sprain/Chronic Ankle Instability can drastically affect your Balance and good balance is essential to Support Posture and healthy Diaphragm function. ➡️ There is nothing more frustrating than having Invisible Saboteurs to your Vocal Performance.
- ⚖️ Vocal Load Assessment ➡️ You can have the Best Vocal Technique and be in Excellent Physical Condition, but if you’re chronically Overusing and/or Under-Resting your voice, you Increase your Risks of developing Overuse Voice Injures.
Chronic pain, Excessive Muscle Tension, and Movement Dysfunction can seriously Undermine your singing– from increasing vocal efforts, to ruining your tone and resonance, to limiting your range and vocal freedom, and No Amount of practice or vocal training will change them because these are NOT technical issues.
These are Body Issues.
And this is where Vocal Physiotherapy can help.
What is Vocal Physiotherapy?
and how does it differ from regular physiotherapy?
Vocal Physiotherapy is for the treatment for all the bodily structures, such as muscles, fascia, bones, joints, cartilages, related to your voice in order to improve the Efficiency of your voicing with key focus in the following areas:
- ✅ Neck, Larynx, Jaw, Tongue ➡️ because they are directly related to Voice Production
- ✅ Thoracic Spine, Ribcage, Breathing ➡️ because they are related to your Breathing Efficiency and Breath Management
- ✅ Back, Core, Balance, Posture ➡️ because they are related to your Singing Alignment and Breath Support
Treatment of the larynx is not covered in the physiotherapy degree, physios undergo post-graduate training courses to be able to treat the voice and there are literally just a handful of Vocal Physios in Brisbane!
Who is Vocal Physiotherapy for?
The main goals for Vocal Physiotherapy are:
- 🎯 To Alleviate excessive muscle tension around your voicing areas to Enhance Vocal Freedom and Sound Quality.
- 🎯 To Optimise your entire Voice Body (specific parts of your body key to voicing) to Maximise your Vocal Efficiency and Performance.
- 🎯 To Facilitate Voice and Body Recovery for Consistent vocal performance, Overuse/ Injury Prevention, and Sustainable Longevity.
Vocal Physiotherapy is great to help Singers keep their instrument in fantastic working condition and to assist with Vocal Recovery. It is also great for anyone who relies on Speaking and Clear Communications for work and has a high Vocal Load such as Actors, Teachers, Coaches, Speakers… etc.
Meet your new Voice Physio
Selina Tannenberg is an Australian Voice Physiotherapist, Singer, and mummy to a whimsical baby dragon named Sk’on.
She believes Singers are Athletes and helps Singers build Strength and Mobility to Sing with More Ease, Greater Control and to Unveil a more Polished & Consistent Sound.
She dislikes misinformation, cats and mid-roll ads on YouTube.
“I didn’t realise my voice was so tight!” – This is the most common comment I hear from singers AFTER their vocal physiotherapy session and even though I know how it all works it still blows my mind each time how different my singers sound AFTER treatment. I love it!
an Ideal Course of Vocal Physiotherapy
To Fully Optimise your body for singing, these are the areas I’d like to assess and in this order.
- Neck and Larynx
- Jaw, Tongue, Soft Palate
- Thoracic Spine, Ribs, Breathing
- Lower Back, Pelvis. Core and Posture
- Balance, Feet
- Vocal Load Assessment
To complete this list, it can take 3 to 5 sessions depending on what we find and how much we have to address for each area.
Whilst this is ideal flow of assessment for me, this is not about me, it is about YOU.
My job as your Voice Physio is to assess you and advise you on your treatment options, guide you in your decision making to help you achieve your goals.
Your body, your choice; you decide what you want to work on. Essentially, you tell me your goals, I identify your movement and musculoskeletal obstacles, pave the paths to success for you, tweak things as need to keep you on track, then it’s up to you to walk the path and I’m here to cheer you on.
I don’t believe my patients should have to rely on me to get by, in the most loving way, I don’t want to see you! 😉 I will give you all the tools you need to be as self sufficient as possible and only check in with me if and when you need to.
Sounds good?
Appointment
When & Where?
- 📆 Limited appointments available on Thursdays.
- 📍Location: Studio Tribe, Level 1, 10-14 Payne Road, The Gap, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
fees for Vocal Physiotherapy :
- Initial appointment (1 hour) – A$200
- Follow-up appointment (40 minutes) – A$140
‼️ If it has been 6 months or more since your last appointment, you will need to have an Initial Appointment as things change.
Australian Private HEalth Insurance
If you have private health extras cover, you can send your invoice to your health fund after your appointment to make your claim.
How much rebate you’ll get depends on your cover. Some insurance companies pay a set amount each time, others pay a percentage of the fees until your yearly allowance runs out.
The only way to be sure is to call your insurance company and ask them about item 500 for an Initial Consultation and item 505 for Follow-up Consultation.
What To Expect in Your Appointments?
Your FIRST appointment
- In your first appointment, we will set your Goals together. I will then do a Subjective Exam where I ask you all the questions I need to support you properly.
- Then I will do a Physical Examination so find out what your body needs so you can achieve your goals.
- Then we commence Treatment.
- We also start building your Maintenance Exercise Program and Self-Care Toolkit straightaway.
Follow-Up appointments
- In your follow-up appointments, we progressively work through all examination findings to bridge the gap towards your goals.
- This includes a combination of hand-on treatment, exercise prescription and me teaching you everything you need to be as self sufficient as possible so you only need to check in with me if and when you need to.
How many appointments will I need?
- This depends on your goals, where you are at now and what your Strength and Mobility gaps looks like.
- It also depends on how committed you are to achieving your goals and how dedicated you are to doing your program.
- This is why you should to be clear about what you want to achieve and discuss these with your physio in your first appointment so reasonable and mutual expectations can be set from the get go.
When Will I start to Feel The Benefits?
- Just like learning and practising singing to get good, optimising your body is also a gradual process and it takes time for all the under-the-hood physiological processes to take effect.
- Typically, people feel immediate transient relief for pain and muscle tension after manual therapy treatment. For long-term management of pain and muscle tension, you must bridge your Strength and Mobility gaps.
- Typically, it takes 4-6 weeks to reach your next level of Strength and Mobility. However, people typically notice improvement in how they feel, their function, and performance soon after they start their program, this is why the best time to start optimising is NOW.
Can I sing straight after my appointment?
- It is common for your voice to feel a bit wobbly or less connected for a short while after laryngeal manual therapy. For this reason, do NOT book your appointment before any important performances or events, especially if this will be your first appointment.
- We encourage you to allow at least 24 hours to assess your response. Once you know how treatment affects you, this window will likely shrink.