There was an extremely fascinating piece on the “Morning Edition” of NPR today.  The item was about Julie Treible, a woman who contracted a common cold and then lost her ability to speak for an entire six weeks.  Every time she tried to speak, she would get dizzy.  She took to communicating with her family by writing on a whiteboard and she felt so left out of her daily activities because no one could hear her or understand her.

Treible’s issue, called functional dysphonia, is apparently fairly common.  Functional dysphonia is caused when the muscles that control the vocal cords tighten up and lock.  In the case of Treible, her vocal cords were stuck in an open position so when air passed from her lungs, it passed over but not across the vocal cords so no sound could be made.  There are cases of people going without the ability to talk for 2-3 years!

Treible makes a visit to Claudio Milstein, a voice specialist.  Milstein performs a series of soft tissue manipulations in order to loosen up the muscles in her throat around the voice box, as well as in the neck and shoulders.  Milstein also has Treible move her head in certain directions and instructs her to make certain noises like “eeeee” and “ooooo”.  Amazingly within only 7 minutes of massaging Treible’s throat, Milstein is able to release the vocal cords and allow Treible to speak again.  While Treible’s voice is still a bit raspy, the difference is remarkable.  Milstein gives her a set of vocal exercises to do several times a day for the next week to strengthen her vocal cords and to help them stay relaxed.  He says that while Treible’s voice is still a bit raspy now, most of his patients have a full and permanent recovery.

To listen to this extremely fascinating item, please visit NPR Throat Massage.