Voice Issues / Sickness / Medical Advice

CoachC
Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:02:46 +0000

dearabby -

No one should be on vocal rest for a year without other intervention (aka voice therapy). Nodules can reduce with rest AND therapy to eliminate the cause of them forming. In our practice, the docs recommend voice therapy and then a follow-up with them after 2-3 months to see if the nodules have reduced, if so how much, and most importantly, how the performer feels she can FUNCTION. If the performer can do what she needs to and the nodules are still present, the docs do nothing except say “keep using your therapy techniques” - because ultimately loss of function is what makes nodules problematic.

The practice MichaelNKat recommends is an excellent one, as is ours. There are a few others in the country that are truly expert in overall voice care of the performer, but not many - as MichaelNKat says, you want a place where you have not only top laryngological surgeons (who can therefore evaluate whether surgery is necessary for full return of function) but also a voice care team of voice therapists and singing voice specialists.

PM me and I’d be glad to help - but your first step is to check who your student’s laryngologist is and make sure it is truly a top person. And a list of star clients is NOT a guarantee of “top practitioner” - in no way. That seems counterintuitive, but I encounter problems all the time with performers who have gone to see “top” people.