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Gravity is not the only reason the tongue and jaw collapse into the airway. Find out more here.

The Fascial Imbalance That Pulls The Tongue Into The Airway

By Osteopathy, Tongue Ties7 Comments
People who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea often struggle with their tongue collapsing into their airways during sleep. Sleeping on one's back increases the risk of the tongue and jaw collapsing into the airway.  Much of this blamed on gravity. Gravity is not the sole factor for the tongue falling into the airway. This article will describe another reason that I have discovered that can pull the tongue into the airway during sleep. This factor is not dependent on gravity.  An overlooked component of swallowing is the balance of tension above and below the tongue. During normal swallowing, the front...
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Is our modern lifestyle causing facial bone loss?

Strong Chewing As Gravity For The Face: A Missing Piece To Bone Loss

By Osteopathy, Physical Health3 Comments
Bone loss of the face is a normal part of aging, right? If you are like most people, you rarely ever open wide and bite into something that provides significant resistance. You eat soft foods and have never thought about the health consequences of that. Worse yet, perhaps you have an open bite. That means your upper and lower teeth in the front don't touch each other when you close your mouth. In this article, we're going to talk about why these things are a problem and what you can do about it.  Why Are Soft Foods A Problem?   Gravity...
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Chronic Muscle Tightness: How To Loosen Tight Muscles In Your Legs

By Osteopathy, Physical Health, Self-Help3 Comments
Chronic muscle tightness Do you struggle with stretching? Do you have chronic muscle tightness in your legs that will not loosen or become more flexible no matter how much you stretch? Do you find stretching abnormally painful and uncomfortable?  If you answered "yes" to any of the questions, then you may have a difficult to resolve form of chronic muscle tightness. Both from personal experience and as a hands-on osteopathic physician, I have observed that some muscles behave differently.  These muscles are stuck in a state of chronic muscle tightness and pain. They are reflexively unable to relax and behave...
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What role do tongue ties play in forward head posture? Find out here

Forward Head Posture and Tongue Ties

By Osteopathy, Physical Health, Tongue TiesNo Comments
Forward Head Posture: Trouble Under The Surface Forward head posture gets a lot of attention. Right now, cell phone use is being blamed as the primary culprit. Although cell phone posture is a problem, there is a much stronger reason for forward head posture lurking under the surface: tongue ties. In another article, I have demonstrated how resting tongue posture affects overall body posture in real-time.  Are Tongue Ties Common?  Tongue ties are far more common than most people, even doctors, realize. Many cling to an outdated statistic suggesting that tongue ties exist in about "4-10% of the population" as an...
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How Upper Lip Ties Prevent The Hard Palate From Lowering

By Osteopathy, Physical Health, Tongue Ties3 Comments
When it comes to tethered oral tissues, the vast majority of the emphasis has been on tongue ties. The tongue plays a role in widening, lowering, and moving the palate forward with proper resting tongue posture. Apart from impacting how teeth can come in, the role that upper lip ties play during craniofacial development is less understood.  Lip ties are continuous with a more superficial layer of fascia than the tongue. Based on palpating a patient during an upper lip tie release, I suspect that the lip and tongue fascial layers connect at the palate. Furthermore, I believe upper lip...
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Tongue Ties Affect The Rest Of The Body: Here’s Proof

By Health, Osteopathy, Physical Health, Tongue TiesNo Comments

A 3 Step Process Tongue ties are often linked just to breastfeeding. Tongue ties are really about much more. Many adults, including myself, who have had tongue and lip tie releases are realizing it first hand. Reports of improved sleep, airway, neck pain, headaches, posture, and more are common.  I have lectured on how the tongue is connected to the rest of the body anatomically. For years I have struggled to find objective ways to demonstrate how tongue ties affect the rest of the body. I can feel the changes manually, but palpation is not considered reliable from person to…

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Sorry Parents, But Babies Don’t Outgrow Tongue Ties

By Health, Osteopathy, Physical Health, Tongue TiesNo Comments

Pediatricians and other healthcare providers often tell parents that their babies will simply outgrow their tongue tie or that it will stretch. Usually if there is a conversation about tongue ties taking place, there is some kind of difficulty or problem with breastfeeding.  The problem can be on the side of the baby where the latch is inefficient and also on the side on the mother where breastfeeding can be painful. There can be an array of different symptoms based on how the tongue and lip functions are affected.  Essentially the bad information the parents are given is just to…

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The Dynamic Motion Of The Tongue And Craniofacial Development

By Health, Osteopathy, Physical Health, Tongue Ties10 Comments

The tongue is a very dynamic structure. It is the only muscle (or group of muscles) that has a freely moveable end. Myofunctional therapists and others emphasize the importance of the tongue being able to rest on the palate during its resting state for proper craniofacial development. Tongue ties have been found to anchor the tongue to the floor of the mouth making it physically difficult for the tongue to rest against the roof of the mouth properly.  By naturally resting on the palate, a normally developed tongue widens and brings down the palate. Babies with tethered tongues are commonly…

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An Example Of How The Tongue Affects The Craniofacial Shape

By Osteopathy, Physical Health7 Comments

The tongue muscle is a group of muscles that work unlike any other muscle we have in our body. It has a free end and resembles the tentacles of an octopus. It is the most dynamic and strongest muscle in our head. We use it to speak, swallow, and breathe. We don’t survive as a species if we can’t swallow. We know that proper swallowing mechanics promotes normal craniofacial development. Breastfeeding encourages proper tongue mechanics. A reverse swallowing mechanism (aka – tongue thrust) promotes a narrow, high palate and jaw that is often linked with bigger problems such as obstructive…

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3 Things I Wish I Knew About When I Was A Competitive Athlete (Part I)

By Health, Osteopathy, Physical Health, UncategorizedNo Comments

Introduction I grew up a competitive swimmer. I started at the age of 5 and swam competitively for 17 years all the way through college. Being a swimmer, I became very self aware of my body. I had a lot of bodywork done. I knew of my strengths, weaknesses, and asymmetries.  Even though I worked hard, I always felt like I was capable of more but I didn’t know how to get there.  Having spent my career studying the human body, there are top three things I wish I knew about when I was an athlete… and, no, nutrition is…

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