Physical Therapy for Muscle Tension Dysphonia with Cervicalgia

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) and 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 improvement 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.

Clinical Case Study: Muscle Tension Dysphonia

Purpose: The purpose of this problem-based learning case study is to review and interact with a clinical case involving a patient diagnosed with muscle tension dysphonia. Included in the case study is a case history, a voice sample, and a laryngeal exam. Conclusions: The case study provides an opportunity to practice conducting an auditory-perceptual assessment and acoustic voice assessment on the provided voice sample. The case study also provides the opportunity to rate endoscopic and stroboscopic parameters on the laryngeal exam. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16799641

Effect of Mathieson Laryngeal Manual Therapy in Patients With Muscle Tension Dysphonia After a Therapeutic Course

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the effect of Mathieson Laryngeal Manual Therapy (MLMT) following a therapeutic course in patients with primary Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD). Materials and Methods: Twelve patients with primary MTD participated in this study. At first, videostroboscopy and perceptual voice assessment was performed, and the Persian version of Vocal Tract Discomfort (VTDp) scale was completed. After two and a half weeks that patients received no treatment, the assessments were repeated to evaluate the effect of spontaneous recovery. For studying the effect of MLMT, it was presented in five sessions. Then, all assessments were repeated. The frequency of supraglottic activity was elicited. For the perceptual evaluation and VTDp, the Wilcoxon nonparametric test was used to study and compare the effect of spontaneous recovery and MLMT. Results: After spontaneous recovery, a significant difference was observed only in strain (P<0.05). After MLMT, the frequency of supraglottic activity decreased, and perceptual voice parameters significantly changed (P<0.05), but the VTDp showed no significant difference (P>0.05). There was no significant difference between spontanous recovery and MLMT based on the paerceptual voice evaluation and VTDp scale (P>0.05). Conclusion: The MLMT can remarkably improve the supraglottic activity and perceptual characteristics of voice in primary MTD after a therapeutic course. Further studies are recommended to confirm the effectiveness of MLMT on decreasing VTD sensations.

Presbylarynx, Functional Voice Disorders, Muscle Tension Dysphonia

Presbylarynx refers to age-related structural changes of the vocal folds that include muscle atrophy, reduced neuromuscular control, loss of superficial lamina propria layer, and reduced pliability. The changes result in thin and bowed vocal folds, increased vocal effort requirements, breathy voice, change in habitual pitch, and strain. The primary treatment options are voice therapy focused on strengthening breath support and the intrinsic muscles of the larynx, and optimization of resonance; injection augmentation of the vocal folds; and type I thyroplasty. Functional dysphonia is defined as change in voice quality in the absence of structural or neurological abnormalities of the larynx. Muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) is a subtype of functional voice disorders and involves laryngeal muscle tension imbalance due to excessive or dysregulated activation resulting often in strained or breathy voice. MTD can be divided into primary (psychological etiology or vocal misuse) and secondary (compensatory for organic laryngeal pathology). The mainstay of treatment for MTD is voice therapy, along with medical or surgical treatment of the underlying vocal pathology in secondary MTD. Mutational falsetto, or puberphonia, is a functional voice disorder where a high-pitched, pre-adolescent voice fails to transition to the lower pitch of adulthood. This review contains 5 figures, 7 tables, 4 videos and 10 references Key Words: Presbylarynx, Injection augmentation, Type I thyroplasty, Primary muscle tension dysphonia, Secondary muscle tension dysphonia, Muscle tension patterns, Manual circumlaryngeal therapy, Functional dysphonia, Mutational falsetto

Intractable Muscle Tension Dysphonia Treated by Injection Laryngoplasty and Lidocaine Injection

Muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) is a voice disorder characterized by excessive tension of the laryngeal muscles during phonation. Voice therapy is the gold standard of treatment for MTD. However, patients with MTD do not always respond to voice therapy. Multidisciplinary approaches have been attempted to treat intractable MTD such as lidocaine instillation, lidocaine injection to recurrent laryngeal nerve, botox injection and excision of false ventricle using CO2 laser. Recently, injection laryngoplasty is suggested that assists in more efficient phonation and voice therapy to MTD patients. A patient with intractable MTD underwent lidocaine injection and injection laryngoplasty showed improved voice quality and remained stable until postoperative 3 months without any complications.

Effects of Laryngeal Massage on Muscle Tension Dysphonia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background and Objectives This study was to investigate the voice quality and articulation effects of laryngeal massage on muscle tension dysphonia (MTD).Materials and Method A systematic review of articles published between January 2000 and December 2020 in Cochrane, PubMed, ScienceDirect, SpingerLink, ERIC, and Naver Academic was conducted. From the total of 2094 articles identified, 10 peer-reviewed articles were included in a meta-analysis. Mean effect sizes of the variables related to voice quality (jitter, shimmer, harmonic to noise ratio or noise to harmonic ratio, high-F0, low-I, cepstral peak prominence) and articulation (F1, F2, F1 slope, F2 slope) were calculated by Hedges’g.Results Meta-analysis of the selected articles showed that laryngeal massage had medium to large effects on all variables of voice quality and articulation except F0-high and F1 slope in the MTD patients.Conclusion This study provided comprehensive clinical evidence that it is highly desirable to apply laryngeal massage to MTD patients.