Female singer, 50 years old, came to the studio on referral to a specialist for a series of ailments
vowels arising with the consolidation of menopause. Among these ailments the patient complained
loss of color and high vocal range. The patient became significantly aware of this problem during the preparation for a Tour. As an already acclaimed artist with a long career, she has always had a beautiful voice color in the middle and chest register. Her voice, now, had started to become strident with a large tension load on the base of the tongue, all of this accompanied by an unusual high position of the larynx. What was once the best part of her voice and the easiest to use has now become difficult and conflicted.
Her vocal coach contacted me on a phoniatric suggestion and immediately after our conversation she started applying SOVTE exercises with open throat space posteriorly. We therefore planned osteopathic treatments together with a speech therapist, aimed at reducing glottic and subglottic pressure at rest and during vocalization. Over the course of 3-4 weeks the patient began to regain her frequencies from a functional point of view, just like before menopause.
It took almost 3 months of work before I was able to sustain these notes with a full voice
a technical reset aimed at the physiological variation of the structures. We worked as a team on repertoires different from the usual one in order to make her work in terrains in which she had not structured habits and osteopathically it was verified every time that the vocal tract followed its own physiological mechanism, neutralizing as they arose, further dysfunctional patterns affecting other districts such as the cervical, shoulder and diaphragmatic-abdominal ones.
At the end of this we took her repertoire back into our hands to improve. Another job
the restoration of the position of the tongue in the high range was important. The tip of the tongue
it tended to move posteriorly and superiorly, completely distorting his singing in a higher range. With the help of the speech therapist, French nasal sounds (which the patient already knew and had no difficulty pronouncing) were included in the upper range in order to actively work on the position of the tongue. By then combining MET and FU techniques on the lingual body and floor of the tongue, always checking the position of the mandible, hyoid and other structures directly or fascially connected to them, the tongue began to relax and function correctly.
Valentina Carlile - Osteopath expert in Osteopathy applied to voice and speech disorders since 2002. For information and reservations visit the page Contacts