What’s a Myofunctional Therapist?
Before I can answer that question, I need to talk about myofunctional therapy in general.
Myofunctional therapy is an exercise-based treatment system. Think about it like physical therapy, only for the muscles of the mouth, tongue and face, and you’ve got the idea.
These exercises relate to tongue placement, breathing, speaking, chewing and swallowing, and they help to address a wide range of health problems and conditions including:
Sleep apnea
Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome
Sleep disturbed breathing
Tongue-tie
TMJ pain
Orthodontic and surgical relapse
Craniofacial growth and appearance concerns
Headaches and other facial and neck pain and tension
Postural issues
It would actually take a long time to cover all the possible conditions and symptoms that myofunctional therapy can help with, but I tell all my patients that I have four specific goals for their treatment.
If they can master these four goals, they’ll definitely get the results they’re looking for, and these same goals are what my myofunctional therapy mentoring and training programs are based on.
The Four Goals of Myofunctional Therapy are:
Nasal breathing
Lip seal
Proper tongue posture
Correct swallowing pattern
When I first mention these goals to my patients or students, they often laugh because as far as goals go, these don’t sound too difficult. After all, how hard can it be to breathe through your nose, close your mouth, and put your tongue in the right place? And who really has trouble swallowing anyway?
I wish it was that simple but as many of my patients would agree, it’s actually much harder than it sounds.
Let me put it this way – if it was actually easy for everyone to do those four things, then I wouldn’t have a job, and the field of myofunctional therapy wouldn’t be in the middle of a period of exponential growth. The demand for myofunctional therapy services is huge, and it’s only going to increase in the coming years.
Which brings us back to the "What’s a myofunctional therapist?” question…
A myofunctional therapist is a cutting-edge health professional providing state-of-the-art treatment to patients. Myofunctional therapists are going to be among the most sought after professionals in coming decades as the connection between the mouth and airway, and overall health becomes better understood.
If you want to find out more about changing your career, integrating myofunctional therapy into your practice, or to find out more about the most exiting field in healthcare, please feel free to get in touch using the button below.