Get Ready Get Set… Preparing for Parkinson’s Voice Exercises
POSITIONING & POSTURE: Ensure you have proper posture when doing your daily Parkinson’s voice exercises. Whether you’re following along to our live or on demand speech therapist led sessions, you’ll want to make sure that you are set up correctly. Cranio-cervical positional changes can greatly influence voice production!
Top Speech Therapist Tips
✅ Use a supportive chair with good back support
✅ Situate yourself squarely in front of your screen
✅ Both feet should be planted steadily on the ground. Ensure knees are not locked together.
✅ Chin should be parallel to the floor and slightly tucked in.
✅ Chest should be lifted (to achieve this, lift both arms straight up above your head, then gently let them fall back down without letting your chest drop).
✅ Shoulders should be relaxed and back, and spine should be straight.
BREATHING: Keep your stomach both firm and expandable at the same time. You will need to practice controlling these muscles while learning how to breathe using your diaphragm.
HYDRATE: Always have a full glass of water within reach during voice exercise sessions. Staying hydrated helps your body produce thin, watery mucus. Your vocal cords vibrate more than 100 times per second when you speak, and they need that mucus to help them move!
STAY RELAXED: Tension in the shoulders, neck and throat can result in poor voice quality and potentially strain those tender vocal fold tissues.
Try doing a few deep diaphragmatic breaths prior to starting. Breathe in deeply through the noise, imagining that you are inflating the belly like a balloon and slowly blow out through gently pursed lips. You can even make a gentle “ooh” sound as you breathe out. Feel the ZEN!